I Xiaoxiong

Chapter 136 Two Tigers
On the large open space in front of Luronse, a polo match is being held.

The two sides in the duel were the Yingzhou Army and the Yanshan Guard in the King Yan's army.

The knights on both sides held clubs and galloped their horses. The riding skills of these Liaodong athletes or Beijing Hu people were extremely brilliant.

Lu Longsai's ex-Yan army officers and soldiers watched the wonderful riding skills and continuously cheered and applauded. Looking at Tian Hongrang on the watchtower, as well as all the officers and soldiers, they were furious for a while, but there was nothing they could do.

The Yan army outside the city has been stationed outside for three months. Although the number is not as large as before, but looking around, there are still countless camps.

Moreover, to the north of Lulongsai, not far away is the military station of the Liaodong Frontier Army, so there is no need to worry about the consumption of food and grass.

It even made Tian Hongrang want to lead his troops out to fight for a while. But in the end he couldn't do anything.

A high platform was set up in front of the Yan army's camp gate. In addition to polo these days, there are also military dramas such as Cuju and tug-of-war. Oftentimes, King Yan would come to watch in person.Occasionally, if you think it is wonderful, you will reward the winning team with wine, meat and gold, and sometimes you will personally speak out to reward.

Therefore, all the armies competed vigorously, wanting to show their faces in front of the prince.

Wu Renguang sitting on the stage looked at the polo, but he didn't know what he was thinking. After a while, he looked sideways at Yao Bingkuan and asked, "Mr. Yao, the monks in Hengzhou are unreliable. Should we retreat gone?"

The old monk squinted his eyes and shook his head, but he didn't say anything. He also knew whether he agreed with the retreat or said that the retreat should not be waited.

At the beginning of the Hengzhou Shamen's rebellion, Yan Wang's mansion still had a little plan to fish in troubled waters, thinking that the foreigner, the Shamen Huiqing, could really go north to Youzhou, and the Yan army would move south, and maybe they could attack twice , Take the Yanshan defense line in one fell swoop.

Although the Yanshan line of defense uses Yanshan as a barrier and builds pass defenses in key tunnels, the complete Yanshan line of defense must also be supported by the important town of Youzhou behind, and provide a steady stream of soldiers, food, and ordnance.

If Shamen Huiqing can really capture Yizhou and go north to Youzhou, it will be a golden opportunity for the Yan army outside the pass.

But looking at it now, the imperial court's attention to the Hebei Rebellion is far less than the worry about the Yan army outside the pass.

Geng Zhongguo, governor of Youzhou Xinghou, would rather sit back and watch the entire territory of Hengzhou fall, and even lose two counties in Yizhou, rather than send troops from Youzhou to the south to quell the chaos.It is clear that we must strictly guard against the Yanshan line of defense.

They also did not expect that Yizhou Inspector Tian Wan, a civil servant, could organize the army and people to guard the front line of the Juma River, but the rebels fought hard for nearly a month without any results.

By the time this precious month passed, the court's army had already arrived.

Although Hou Qiuming of Anyuan won first and then lost, he had to retreat to Yingzhou, but the rebels also suffered a lot and were unable to continue their northward advance.

The main force of the anti-insurgency army led by Marshal Fu Maoxiu of the Hebei Road March also rushed to Hengzhou.Although this battle has not yet started, judging from Marshal Fu's steady fighting style, the defeat of the rebel army was only ten months away.

In fact, none of these exceeded his expectations. What surprised him the most was that Jiangnan had also turned upside down.

"But I never thought that this old man, King Wu, hid deep enough, even in several states. This is the military newspaper almost a month ago, and now it has almost reached the front line of Jianye and Runzhou. It seems that 'fate is in Wu', this It’s not about me, Wu Renguang, but Zhao Deyu, the king of Wu in Wudi in the south of the Yangtze River?"

Looking at the military report just passed through a special channel, Wu Renguang smiled meaningfully.He still remembered that the old monk beside him said a confession many years ago, "The destiny is in Wu."

For those with great ambitions, these four words are extremely inspiring.

This trip was originally intended to take advantage of the fire to loot. If they can cross Yanshan Mountain at a very small price, it will be a flat river to go south. Even if they give up their children in the capital, there is no way.

But now such an opportunity is gone.

But at the same time, a new turning point appeared, the king of Wu rebelled in the south of the Yangtze River!This will indeed attract a considerable part of the court's attention, but if King Yan's Mansion wants to go south at this time, it will become a wedding dress for King Wu.

Wu Renguang can be sure that if he makes an incident at this time, the Shangjing court will definitely mobilize elite frontier troops to fight against the Yan army.

And the Yan army still has to pay a huge price to capture the Yanshan defense line, because this is the fastest way to go south.

Although it is also possible to bypass Yunzhou, which is the gap between the Yanshan Mountains and the Yinshan Mountains, Yunzhou belongs to the Hedong Road, and the current Hedong Jiedushi is Dingguo Gong Feng Shenji, a well-recognized Jin general.

Moreover, Feng Shenji was still an old nobleman who had a lot of grievances with Youyan Palace, so it was obvious that Yunzhou was not so easy to fight.

But the opportunity of King Wu's rebellion in the south of the Yangtze River was extremely rare for King Yan.After all, it is rare for the imperial court to turn their attention to the south at this time, and even earlier, it was not that the Palace of Yan and the Palace of Wu were not unconnected.
"My lord, why don't you give a performance to the court and send thousands of frontier troops to the south of the Yangtze River to help in the battle. Let's see how the court responds."

Yao Bingkuan's suggestion caught Wu Renguang's eye.

"Okay, I'll be on the watch tomorrow"

Yao Bingkuan continued: "My lord has already made up his mind, right?"

Wu Renguang nodded, as long as he didn't want to make wedding dresses for others, retiring from the army was an inevitable choice.

Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly saw a large flag raised against the wind above Lulongsai's watchtower.

He wrote a letter to "Marshal Fu of the Hebei Road Marching Army".

"Huh? Why did he come here?" Wu Renguang had just made up his mind to retreat, but he never wanted to see the commander-in-chief of British Duke Fu Maoxiu flying over Lulongsai, the king of rebellion.

The soldiers inside and outside the pass began to boil.

"Meet the Generalissimo!" The loud shouts of the soldiers in the pass can also be clearly heard here in the Yan Army Camp.

Wu Renguang was quite surprised and said: "A nobleman who has never served in Hebei Province, but in Hexi, thousands of miles away, has such a high reputation because of his son's bravery and elite soldiers and strong generals? Let Guan Guan's morale shake?"

Yao Bingkuan shook his head and said, "It's not Fu Maoxiu who is famous, but the 'British Duke', five generations of generals, intertwined, the Imperial Army, Hebei, Hedong, Qingyan, Hexi, Guanzhong, Shuofang. How can there be no old family members of the Fu family in these places? "

"Fu Maoxiu has such a reputation just because of his ancestral shadow. Why doesn't the imperial court suspect these old nobles? Instead, they keep an eye on Liaodong every day?"

King Wu asked with a smile, as if he had completely forgotten what his father and son had done in the past 30 years, and did not mention that the five generations of the Fu family were all famous for their loyalty.

Yao Bingkuan was also very clever and didn't say this: "There are eight princes in the Jin Dynasty, but there is only one king with a different surname."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

An extremely hearty laughter sounded from the high platform, as if they were cheering for Yan Shanwei's beautiful shot on the polo field just now.

On Lu Longsai, Fu Maoxiu was wearing a golden bright armor with phoenix wings and a crimson battle robe, majestic and majestic.Surrounded by dozens of generals and schools, he climbed up to the watchtower, looked at the endless Yan army camp below the city and smiled.

"Yan Wangye is really generous."

For Generalissimo Fu Maoxiu who suddenly appeared in the Hebei march, Tian Hongrang was extremely surprised, thinking that the battle was in full swing, the Generalissimo was not in Hengzhou to command the battle, and he came here to Lulongsai, could it be that he was worried about King Yan?

"I see that there are a lot of men and women in Yan's army. Are these the righteous army or righteous followers?"

Fu Maoxiu's question brought Tian Hongrang back to his senses quickly, bowed and said, "Marshal Hui, about [-]% of the Liaodong Frontier Army are Han troops, and the remaining [-]% are northerners and Donghu barbarians. These hairy people They are Donghu people. In addition, every time the king of Yan fights, he will recruit a lot of barbarians as righteous followers. These barbarians are not afraid of death and are extremely powerful."

"How is it better than the elite of the Western Army?" Fu Maoxiu looked at the city and continued to ask.

Tian Hongrang continued: "Of course they are not as elite as the Western Army."

"Why?"

"In terms of military discipline. These barbarians have only blood and courage, strong character, and light life and death when fighting, but they lack military discipline and are reckless and uncontrollable. Naturally, they are not as good as the Western Army's elite fighters.

Tian Hongrang was once a subordinate of Duke Dingguo, and he himself was a general who fought from the border towns of Longyou, Hexi, and Shuofang, so he naturally knew the reality of the border towns of the Western Army.

When the two armies are fighting, it is obviously not enough to rely on blood and courage. Only a truly elite division can do it.

"The lower officials are daring, but they don't know why the marshal came here."

Fu Maoxiu didn't look angry when he heard the almost questioning words. He turned his head and glanced at Tian Hongrang who was bowing his head, and then turned his head to look outside the pass again. He didn't know whether he was watching the polo or the reality of the Yan Army camp.

"General Tian, ​​do you think Wu Renguang outside the city is more of a threat to the court than those monks in Hengzhou who are making trouble?"

Ask Tian Hong so directly, it's too direct
Here, Fu Maoxiu saw that Tian Hongrang didn't ask any questions, so he turned around and asked the staff who came with him, "Which one do you think is more threatening to the imperial court, Hengzhou Shamen or Liaodong Yanfan?"

Zhang Jing, the Minister of the Military Department of the Marshal's Mansion, said: "The Salmonella in Hengzhou is suffering from a serious disease, while Yan Fan outside the city is a serious problem."

"Hahaha, of course." Fu Maoxiu laughed.

Tian Hongrang originally thought it was not good to say too much about King Yan in front of the Generalissimo, after all, the other side has not yet. But now it seems that he is too conservative, the staff of the Marshal's Mansion said so
Didn't the Generalissimo just mean that he wants to confront this confidant in person?

After Fu Maoxiu laughed, he said solemnly: "If Yanfan doesn't retreat for a day, I will confront him in Lulongsai for a day!"

Coincidentally at this time, the Yan army's messenger ran to the base of the city and shouted, "Your Majesty, I would like to ask the British city to tell you."

Then King Yan stood on the specially-made chariot and walked hundreds of steps below the city, "My lord, can I tell you about the city?"

"Why not?"

Against the opposition of his staff and generals, Fu Maoxiu rode out of the city alone for hundreds of steps.

Wu Renguang saw that after Fu Maoxiu left the city, the two were separated by tens of steps, looked at each other's majestic demeanor and laughed, "I often hear that the Duke of the State is called the 'beautiful man', but today I saw him with a very good manner."

Fu Maoxiu smiled and said, "Your Majesty, the award is too much."

Then Wu Renguang changed the subject: "Your Majesty rode out alone, don't you worry that I will capture you and then attack you?" Fu Maoxiu asked back: "This place is only a few hundred steps away. The closed eight-ox crossbow is said to be able to Don't you worry about shooting a thousand steps?"

"Hahahaha." Wu Renguang laughed heartily.

Above the city gate, all the soldiers could hear the "laughing and chatting" of these two great ministers.

On the second day, the Yan army retreated.

And the story of the British Duke's single-handed retreat from the Yan army is also widely circulated.

"There are always people telling the lonely king that Jin Zuo has declined. The lonely king always thought that the court was full of wine bags and rice bags, which was nothing to worry about. For example, the British Duke Fu Maoxiu, the lonely king always thought he was a mediocre talent who inherited the shadow of his ancestors, but there was a Good old man, he gave birth to a good son, at most he is just a middle-aged man... I saw him yesterday, he has a handsome appearance, a dignified appearance, and even more courage, a real hero."

On the way back to the teacher, Yan Wang Wu Renguang and his confidant old monk sighed.

"A capable minister is enough to see the ability of a Taoist emperor."

"There are monarchs and ministers like this in the Jin court, and there is no picture yet!"

(End of this chapter)