Delong

Chapter 303 Tiger Row (4)

On the morning of the third day after the dinner, there was no wind and fog on the banks of the Mamian River in Pingyuan County, and the army gathered.

The sun in early spring rises from the east, reflecting the misty land of Hebei vividly and illusoryly. The Hejian army coming from Jiangling City in the northwest is like a wave of waves, rushing across this road in the southwest, northeast and north. Walking towards the edge of the creek, and then stopping instead like the tide against a dam.

By this time, counting the reinforcements along the way, plus the original civilian husbands and auxiliary soldiers, the Hejian army has nearly 20 people, carrying flags, lined up for more than ten miles along the Mamian River, and it is very majestic.

"The general has an order. Each Zhonglang will lead each of his ministries to build three pontoon bridges. When all the pontoon bridges are complete, we will get the order together and then cross the river! Cross the river for five miles, and go to the village in person! If anyone violates the order, snatch others' pontoon bridges." , whoever breaks the pontoon bridge, will be killed without mercy!"

Orders with red tassels on their helmets and red capes kept coming and going along the river embankment, repeating the military orders of the supreme commander.

"Shall we build a pontoon bridge too?"

In the crowd of thousands of troops, Qian Tang, who was nicknamed "The Man Who Moved the Case", looked a little bored at this moment, compared to the angry rebuke of the generals three days ago.

"It is reasonable to say that there is no need." Cao Shancheng, the Qinghe Tongshou who was on the horse, frowned. "The military order is obviously only issued to those generals of the Hejian Army and the two generals of Youzhou, and has nothing to do with us...but let's set it up, otherwise our county soldiers will not have a place to cross the river."

"Then set it up." Qian Tang responded casually.

The ground is very muddy. Obviously, the temperature rises as usual during the first month, and with the gradually elongated sunshine in spring, the frozen land begins to thaw in the daytime. It is conceivable that the so-called ice flood on the big river, that is, the ice-melt period, is indeed coming soon.

This time, there is no problem in terms of timing.

The permanent pontoon bridge was quickly built according to the requirements. To be honest, there was no difficulty except that it was a little muddy and made the folks dirty, because the water was too shallow, and there were even some places where there was no need to wet your feet at all.

"This horse-faced river..." Cao Shancheng asked earnestly when he saw that the bridge was built smoothly. "Is there any difference between being in Pingyuan County and Qinghe County?"

"What does Qinghe County look like?"

"In summer, when the water rises, you can ride across the shallows on horseback..."

"That's basically the same." Qian Tang answered frankly. "It will be a little wider in the lower reaches of Bohai County. We have also seen it... Zhang Gong once said when he was alive that it was mainly because the first emperor rebuilt the clear and turbid Zhangshui River as the main transfer channel for taxes in Hebei, and encroached on many Mamian Rivers. The tributary of the river has reduced the water flow, and even the estuary has gradually silted up over the past ten years, and then the sea water reversed, forming a tidal flat on the Yanshan Mountain.”

"In this case, the logistics behind him may be more difficult. As for this place..." Cao Shancheng nodded and continued to ask. "If this is the case here, is it necessary for General Xue to build so many pontoon bridges?"

"I don't think it's a bad move." Qian Tang looked at the open area ahead where the mist was gradually dissipating, and answered seriously. "On one side of this small river are Ande, Pingyuan, and Jiangling, and on the other side are Banxian County and Pingchang where the Dragon Gang was built. Like Douzigang in the south of Banxian County, they are the natural boundaries of the battlefield. The river is the battlefield, so it doesn’t matter if the rear is prepared.”

Cao Shancheng nodded again, but he was a little uneasy, he paused for a moment, and then asked seriously: "Mr. Are you angry?"

"Can I still enjoy it?" Qian Tang looked blankly at the governor of Qinghe County beside him. "Changhe was robbed by his son a few years ago. Ande, Pingyuan, and Jiangling were all filled by him with a Zhonglang general and three thousand soldiers. Instead, I want to bring the county soldiers out to follow him. He...but what can I say? He also sent people to occupy Leling in the Bohai Sea to ensure a safe future. But so what, can I do anything else?"

Cao Shancheng sighed, and answered in a low voice: "Mr. Qian, please don't think I'm troublesome. You have to tell me what you wrote to me a few months ago. Sheriff Qian, you are a little bewitched by Thief Zhang. Arrived……"

Qian Tang couldn't help but startled.

"Mr. Qianfu, don't be careless." Cao Shancheng said quickly. "Zhang thief is too cunning, a cunning that I have never seen in my life is definitely a great harm to the country, but it is hateful. Cao Zhongcheng did not directly terminate this person after failing to accept him as his adopted son..."

Qian Tangfu laughed again,

"Mr. Qianfu, don't laugh." Cao Shancheng had no choice but to return to the original topic. "Look at the leaflets he has been distributing, and if you think about it carefully, they all seem to make sense, but in fact, he only said things that are beneficial to him, not things that are harmful to him... And his behavior, in the final analysis It's just to shake people's hearts and make it easier for him to turn upside down in Hebei."

"What exactly is Mr. Cao trying to say?" Qian Tang finally became impatient. "Afraid that I will be turned against him by what he said? Let me tell you, this battle was won, and all the soldiers of the 25th Battalion of the Delong Army were choked on the horse's face in Henan. Even if I was moved by him, I have no place Go vote for him? On the other hand, if the 20 people in Hebei collapse here, we dare not say too much. At least the two counties of Bohai and Pingyuan will disappear, and Qinghe may also disappear... By then, who will Who can I manage?"

Cao Shancheng's face was difficult, and he didn't speak for a while.

Qian Tang came to his senses, and immediately laughed again: "Could it be that Governor Cao thought that I was going to defect? ​​Don't worry, in the current situation, I am clearly being monitored by General Xue as a prisoner. Without Ande City in hand, defection is useless in the war. "

Cao Shancheng's expression became more and more serious: "Mr. Qianfu, that's not what I mean... I just think that the more difficult the situation is, the more loyal people should stick to their duties... I let go of that breath in one thought, whether it's drifting with the tide or obediently obediently rebellious." , Naturally, it is very comfortable, but if no one does anything, the country and the court will really end."

Qian Tang nodded expressionlessly.

Seeing this, Cao Shancheng knew that he was disgusted, so he stopped talking, but sighed and rode his horse to other pontoon bridges beside him.

"It's the same as what Zhang Sanlang said in the leaflet." As soon as the man left, Lu Changheng, who had been reining in the horse, urged his horse forward, then shook his head and said: "This man has wasted half his life, and he has never had the glory of living in the past two years. And the glory of the past two years has come from suppressing the rebels, life has been suppressed on the suppression of the rebels... So, whatever reason comes to him, it will only become a suppression of the rebels... If you just asked the country and the court If there is really salvation, he will definitely say, if you beat down the dragon thieves in Hebei, maybe you will be saved."

"In the end, he has some skills and ideas. He has already surpassed [-]% of the people in the world. The only difference is that he is independent. Zhang San also has a bad mouth." Qian Tang also shook his head when he heard the words, and was surprised again at this point. "New leaflet? When did it come?"

"Scattered in front of several broken bridges and in Wubao yesterday...everyone took it, I thought you had seen it too." Lu Changheng answered one by one.

"No wonder you suddenly said these things to me." Qian Tangchang let out a breath. "Zhang San doesn't have the slightest demeanor of the lord of the eight counties, this is going to drive people crazy!"

"It doesn't matter, the key is, should we stop like this?" Lu Changheng was a little uneasy. "After the Chinese New Year, we found out that we have already chatted after sending out troops, but suddenly we just sit and watch the outcome?"

"How else?" Qian Tang asked back. "Xue Changxiong occupied the three cities and dragged me in. What else can I do except watch the outcome?"

Lu Changheng was silent for a moment, and then asked: "Then what do you think of the outcome?"

"The outcome is unpredictable." Qian Tang was still straightforward.

"It's obvious that the people here are not on the same page, and everyone has their own ghosts." Lu Changheng tried his best to argue. "Xue Changxiong can't convince people, there is Cao Shancheng who can't be used."

"Don't think that this side is the only one that is in trouble... It's not bad as I expected, and Zhang San's side may not be completely convincing." Qian Tang answered calmly. "There's still a lot of trouble."

Lu Changheng wanted to persuade him again, but felt that it was absurd—what the hell is he doing?Officers?Depose the deputy helmsman of the Dragon Gang?spy?Internal response?friend?Or a messenger?
It was also frustrating for a while.

The two of them were thinking wildly, suddenly, they heard shouts around them, and they were in a state of confusion, so they hurriedly looked around, and as expected, following the eyes of everyone, they saw a large group of people who were clearly out of specification appearing on the other side of the Mamian River. Depose the dragon army sentry cavalry.

Besides, the sentry cavalry of the two sides had already engaged in intensive fighting a few days earlier, and there were naturally some on the other side of the Mamian River at this time. Obviously, it was something that happened before that made these sentry cavalry afraid to make some unnecessary attempts.

"Want to gamble?!" Qian Tang turned to look at Lu Changheng. "Zhang Sanlang is over there."

"No need." Lu Changheng shook his head. "It must be Zhang Sanlang who came to spy on the army in person... If you really want to bet, it's better to bet on whether Xue Changxiong will lead the masters of the army to cross the river as a master. You don't expect to win, but you can drive them away!"

"I bet not." Qian Tang replied swiftly. "Xue Changxiong looks like a great general, wanting to mobilize a dignified teacher, but at the same time he is too stingy, he will not rush into battle in person..."

While talking, suddenly a young cavalry easily stepped across a newly built pontoon bridge, and rushed straight to the opposite bank, waving a flag, which turned out to be the Luo flag.

"Luo Shu?" Qian Tang was slightly surprised. "Uncle Qin Bao doesn't know whether to praise him for being brave, or lament his lack of plan... But the past few days, he didn't behave like a planless person? On the contrary, he was a little cunning."

"It's not like Luo Shu." Lu Changheng poked his head to look. "This flag has no borders and lacks regulations. It's not a serious flag... is it his son?"

Qian Tang was stunned.

The next moment, under the witness of tens of thousands of people, those hundreds of Youzhou armored cavalry rushed straight to the group of strange dethroning dragon army Qingqi, and from a distance, seven or eight masters of strange scriptures released real The Qi came, vaguely meaning to form a small army of Zhen Qi, and the leader directly raised his spear. Duanjiang Zhen Qi was attached to the spear, and it stretched out nearly ten feet abruptly, showing extraordinary momentum.

It can only be said that he is worthy of being the dragon son of Jiangmen.

However, when the two sides were more than a hundred steps apart, the light cavalry formation of the Dragon Army suddenly released true energy. The air is more grand, and more substantive, but it is only off-white, like a cloud that seems to have life.

That's not to mention, a large array of zhenqi was formed, and it was strong and weak. Those armored cavalry were caught off guard and slowed down in a panic, but the horse's momentum was hard to stop, so they could only follow the leader to lean to one side.That is to say, at the moment when they turned around dozens of steps away, the true energy in the Longjun formation waved, and a wave of true energy two or three feet wide burst out suddenly like a gray-white lightning in the morning sun.

The first three or four cavalry generals dodged, but there were twenty or thirty cavalry behind them who were completely swept away by the true energy, and the people on the spot turned their backs, life and death were unpredictable, and the remaining dozens of cavalry no longer had the courage to maintain the formation. Just turn around and leave.

The power of a single blow is so terrifying.

Not to mention how the spectators thought about the battle, but the fact that Luo Xin escaped with his life, he only thought of life and death for a moment, but he put away his extra thoughts in an instant and just wanted to escape.

Fortunately, the opponent did not pursue, and even took the initiative to dissipate his true energy, but continued to wait and see.

Returning to the Mamian River, Luo Xin returned to his father, but he did not plead guilty to his father. Instead, he got off the saddle and bowed to the person sitting next to his father: "The general is incompetent, I am ashamed, please The general punishes the crime."

That person was Xue Changxiong, of course, and he just laughed boldly when he heard the words: "It's okay, who would have thought that the dragon thief would be so stingy, and the whole group of masters did their best, but they didn't even hit the flag... The gray and white true energy must be Thief Zhang's ice zhenqi made the bottom line, and he made the move himself?"

"It must be so." Luo Shu replied for his son.

"I know how my second child died." Xue Changxiong sighed quietly. "I really can't blame Mr. Qiantang Qianfu for this matter. I was wrong to blame him before."

Everyone didn't know how to respond.

At this time, General Xue looked around again: "Listen, you must not take the dragon thief lightly!"

"What the general said is true." Chen Bin spoke first, and the rest of the generals agreed one after another, thinking at the same time that they would continue to withdraw according to the general's wishes.

But at the next moment, Xue Changxiong stood up again, pulled out a straight knife from his waist, and looked left and right: "But since we are going to fight today, and we have already agreed to take turns to attack after the battle, how can we be afraid? Is the enemy not going forward? According to our military order, the Hejian Army has [-] masters who have condensed alchemy and above, and four of them are behind the four cities. The other nine will lead the formation, and within a quarter of an hour, each of them will bring five elites above the Qijing level to come to this flag, and follow me to try this saber! Open the way for the whole army!"

Everyone shuddered and listened to the order.

After a while, all the generals came together, Xue Changxiong didn't hesitate, he only ordered his guards to raise his flag of the general in charge of the march, holding a straight knife, and leaped out in person. .

Not only that, before crossing the river, Xue Changxiong was still wearing ordinary armor, but when he walked across the pontoon bridge, the radiant and true energy on his body was already surging, like a round human-shaped sun, shining on all sides, and the generals behind him were encouraged and released their true energy. Qi, and quickly formed an army of Zhen Qi with extremely high quality, although the regulations were extremely small.

The rest of the tens of thousands of people behind were already dumbfounded, and Qian Tang's face was even swollen for no reason.

Seeing this in the distance, the true energy on the opposite side also surged, and the iconic off-white true energy also condensed again, forming a huge living body that seemed to be able to breathe, and unexpectedly waited in place without the slightest fear.

Seeing this, Xue Changxiong didn't let the generals speed up, but just walked forward slowly.

The two sides were separated by a hundred paces. Unexpectedly, the gray and white army formation on the opposite side suddenly showed a red flag with the word "拍" and then started slowly. The imposing manner, I am afraid that it is difficult to kill in one fell swoop, but it is the thought of first angrily denouncing the bandit chieftain, and then calmly suppressing the opponent's army in public, forcing the opponent to walk away in embarrassment, and build up the military prestige.

However, just when the two sides were separated by forty or fifty steps and almost saw each other's face, the Zhenlong array of the Longjun moved first.

The gray-white air mass accelerated forward rapidly, and within a short while, it reached a distance of more than ten feet.

At this time, Xue Changxiong was furious, and directly swung his sword to luck. Unexpectedly, the luck was not complete. First, a purple light flew from the opposite formation. , but slammed into Xue Changxiong's radiant formation like the sun, and there was an arrow, wrapped in Duanjiang's true energy, hidden under the purple light, one front and one back, one light and one dark, one thrust and one stab, The light around General Xue dimmed slightly.

Of course, it was only a dim, and it quickly returned to normal.

But on the other side, the army formation of the Delong Dragon Army stole in front of them, and after a sudden stab, they didn't stop for a moment, and the whole army turned back and walked away. A play that escapes with one blow.

Not only that, but in the formation of the bandits who continued to flee south, on the side of the banner with the word "解" that had just been raised, there was another person who was really angry and laughed loudly as he walked:
"Unexpectedly, the old dog still has the courage to fight dragons!"

Its voice is entangled with true energy, drumming all over the world, deafening...but I don't know whether to admit Xue Changxiong's ability, or to ridicule his inability?

Xue Changxiong became more and more impatient. Seeing that Qingqi was walking fast, he had no choice but to imitate the yelling and go back. As a result, the opponent's army suddenly seemed to be half-rehearsed, and they "yelled" in unison, responding to the previous voice, The movement is bigger.

I don't know how boring these people are, they actually specialize in practicing slogans.

General Xue was completely helpless, he could only watch as the opponent's group seemed to be victorious, shouting continuously, holding a banner, and retreating proudly.

However, although Xue Changxiong felt that he was being teased, he didn't know that across the Ma Mianhe, many people were stunned - in the eyes of most people, this was a fight between gods and gods, and they couldn't tell the difference between the winner and the loser.

Before noon, the Hejian army crossed the shallow Mamian River on time as planned, and after traveling no more than five miles, they began to set up camp under the warm sun at noon.

Although there was an attack from the Dragon Army in the middle, the soldiers still came to cover the water and the earth. Relying on the strength of the army, the elite of the troops, and the proper logistics, the camp layout was calmly arranged at night-the Mamianhe camp of the officers and soldiers was very wide. It was several miles, and it was still extending, with a depth of five miles in front and back. The trench outside the main entrance in front was only ten miles away from the first line of defense of the Dragon Army's first camp.

When it was nighttime, Zhang Xingduan was sitting in the military tent, hesitating whether to attack at night to harass him, or to take the opportunity to show his weakness... In the daytime, he was lucky enough to return home, which made him realize that the outcome of this battle actually depends.

And at this time, Yan Qing brought Liu Zhouchen over, and suddenly came to report something.

"Really?" Zhang Xing looked up blankly. "I didn't find out before, so now I'm showing my feet?"

"Yes...it has been found out." Liu Zhouchen was also a little uneasy. "It was the telltale feet that were exposed when the cages couldn't cover them when they retreated. Many people saw it."

Zhang Xing was expressionless, but he was speechless in his heart—without him, Yan Qing and Liu Zhouchen reported a very simple incident. , taking advantage of the convenience of staying behind in his base camp, he privately hid a cellar of gold and silver goods, which was withdrawn a few days ago and was discovered.

(End of this chapter)