first minister

At the foot of Loulan City, one night later, Yelvxiu waited for his backup, and he had five thousand soldiers under the city.

Immediately, the Crane Control Army showed strong military literacy, and after a slight adjustment, they began an orderly but closely-paced attack.

Although it was not a fierce attack like a violent storm, it was like layers of waves, one after another, without giving the opponent a moment to breathe.

After the previous siege in front of Qingchuan Pass failed and the success was almost complete, Yelvxiu also led the He Controlling Army to deliberately conduct some offensive and defensive drills on the city.

However, although the tactics were good, they lacked siege equipment and were unable to carry out surprise attacks to attack the opponent's main force and give full play to the true role of the cavalry. In one day's fierce attack, except for the casualties of hundreds of elites, they failed to successfully break the city.

Yelvxiu, who came to the scene to supervise the battle, looked calm. After Ming Jin withdrew his troops, he ordered his men to shout towards the top of the city.

"Surrender now, there are still preferential treatment, this place is still yours! If we don't open the city, reinforcements will arrive tonight and massacre the city tomorrow!"

There was no answer on the city wall, only a basin of golden juice poured down, emitting waves of stench in the hot air.

Yelvxiu snorted coldly and turned back to the camp.

On a slope further away, Jiang Yuhu stood on horseback, watching from a distance.

The captain beside him smiled and said: "I'm afraid Yelvxiu will be so angry that he will be unable to get off the tiger."

Jiang Yuhu did not agree, but raised the corners of his mouth and smiled slightly.

The night comes as expected. The night in the desert comes quickly and is completely dark.

In the air, the heat of the day suddenly disappeared, making people feel as if they had returned to late autumn overnight.

The lights at the top of the city and the sentry fires from the two enemy camps below reflected each other in the distance, a rare light in this world.

In the complete silence, the city gate that had been closed for two whole days slowly and silently opened a gap.

Hundreds of figures lined up in two rows, leading horses and slowly walking out of the city.

The horses' hooves were wrapped in cotton, and the people's footsteps were light and a bit panicky.

In the extremely weak light, they looked around vigilantly, like a silent tide slowly flowing through the open space outside the city.

After walking about four or five hundred steps, just as they were about to get on their horses, a loud shout suddenly sounded from the sky and the earth, "Lift!"

In front of everyone, firelights lit up in response, illuminating a semicircular circle!

The crane-controlling army and the horse-titled horses that were lying on the ground all stood up. At a glance, there were as many as one or two thousand.

Yelvxiu sat high on his horse, looking at the shocked people under the firelight, and said with a smile: "In the face of a powerful enemy, is it inappropriate for you nobles to abandon your people and leave like this?"

A leading man quickly dismounted, knelt on the ground, and said dejectedly: "Since I was captured by the general, I hope that the general will spare his life, and I am willing to offer Lou Lan to the general."

Yelvxiu said with a smile: "You are not going to offer it in the afternoon today, but you are going to offer it at night?"

The person on the other side said simply, "We still have the protection of the city in the afternoon. Now that we fall into the hands of the general, we have no choice but to survive."

He untied a package from his back and took out a large seal, "This is the seal of Lord Loulan. I present it to the general to show our sincerity."

Yelvxiu laughed heartily and looked very proud. After a moment, he stretched out his hand and said, "Present it!"

One of Yelvxiu's soldiers stepped forward to retrieve the seal, while the rest of the crane-controlling army sergeants quietly and vigilantly held the handles of their swords at their waists, showing the quality that a strong army should have.

But fortunately, everything went smoothly.

When Yelvxiu took the big seal and saw the words [Seal of the Lord of Loulan Kingdom] under the firelight, he felt quite good and said, "Get up."

But the people kneeling on the ground still did not move. The leader raised his head and prayed with his eyes, "Please give me a way to live, General."

Yelu Xiu smiled and joked, "Since you are surrendering, you must at least disarm yourself first, right?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a whistle sounded like a frightened bird. The people who had been kneeling on the ground almost instantly got on their horses, then straightened their bows and nocked arrows, shooting at the sergeant of the Crane Control Army who had already taken the right position. !

Then, using the cover of the arrows, he rushed out like a sharp arrow, pointing directly at Yelvxiu's location.

The series of actions shocked even the elite crane-controlling army of Beiliang. The delay in hastily blocking the arrows inevitably caused the formation to become slightly uneven. Seeing that the coach was attacked, everyone hurriedly came to stop them. In one move, The formation was even more unbearable. They were rushed to pieces by this group of people through calculated calculations and unintentional calculations.

Yelvxiu had no choice but to avoid the sharp edge temporarily, turned his horse's head, and galloped to the side to avoid it.

They were not too worried. As long as they gave the Crane Controlling Army time to adjust, these few hundred people would be immediately swallowed up by the reorganized Crane Controlling Army.

But the offensive of the Loulan people did not stop there. Just when the formation of the crane-controlling army was in chaos and Yelvxiu was forced to flee, the city gate was suddenly opened violently, and the earth trembled. Three people who had been prepared in the city long ago Thousands of cavalrymen rushed out like a thrown spear, stabbing at the exposed back of the crane-controlling army.

Outside the empty city, Yelu Xiu and his soldiers fled in front of them. The elites from hundreds of Loulan elites were chasing after them, while more than 2,000 crane-controlling troops were clinging behind them, preparing to rescue their commander and annihilate the enemy. , but after them, three thousand Loulan cavalry followed closely.

Impact and encirclement, flanking attacks and counter-attacks, all took place on this venue in a tense and exciting manner.

From the perspective of the Lou Lan people, this battle situation has always developed according to their established rhythm and expected effects, with timing and connection, everything is so smooth.

However, they underestimated Yelvxiu after all, and the true strength of a man who was regarded by Yelvshi, King of Dingxi in Northern Liang, as the military that the Yelu family could rely on to take that crucial step in the future.

Just when this elite cavalry rushed out, hoping to turn the tide of the battle and achieve what they wanted.

A group of hundreds of cavalry who had ambushed in advance rushed directly into the open city gate under the cover of night.

Then there was a loud shout of killing.

Almost at the same time, Yelu Xiu also led the personal guards, suddenly increased his speed, drew a wonderful semicircle in the open space, and rushed towards the side of the pursuer formation behind him.

This quick turn and rush clearly demonstrated the outstanding combat power of him and his direct line of guards.

Several high-pitched bird calls immediately rang out from the team that was originally chasing behind him.

To the ears of Lou Lan people, there are only two words for this familiar whistle: breakout!

Seeing the neat movements of the Lou Lan people, Yelu Xiu chuckled lightly and ordered only some of the people to pretend to pursue them, while he personally led the main force towards the city.

A qualified general will never and cannot be confused by the situation on the battlefield and lose his mind. What is important and what is not important must be clearly distinguished.

Listening to the fighting in the city, he clamped his horse's belly and shouted while charging forward, "Hurry up and take down Loulan City!"

Everyone ran towards the open city gate, but at this moment, inside the city gate, the crane control army that had just rushed in unexpectedly rolled out, and behind them were two to three thousand infantrymen holding spears!

"Commander, be careful, there is an ambush in the city! The door is narrow! There are antlers! Our brothers will be living targets if they go in!"

Yelvxiu's eyes narrowed when he heard this. It seemed that he had underestimated the other party.

"withdraw!"

He immediately gave the order, trying to pretend to be defeated to lure the other party into being fooled.

But the pursuing infantry arrived at the city gate, took up their posture and stopped dispatching.

But behind him, the troops who had just broken through and left had already made a circle and were heading towards them, intending to attack them from both sides.

Yelvxiu's heart suddenly surged with an unknown fire. What do you think of this general? If I don't give you some clues, I really think the Crane Control Army is easy to bully!

He looked at the Lou Lan cavalry who was charging towards him with murderous eyes, and then he was stunned.

I saw the Wudang Army who appeared on the battlefield at an unknown time, like a wildly dancing fire dragon, crashing into the opponent's camp fiercely and quickly like a tiger descending from the mountain.

"Jiang Yuhu!" Yelvxiu immediately punched his leg and shouted: "Leave a thousand people here to guard the opponent's retreat! The rest form a team and follow me!"

But the entire battle tonight was a process of underestimating each other.

Even though Yelu Xiu knew Jiang Yuhu's arrogance, he underestimated his fighting power again.

Just as he and his men were rushing toward the Lou Lan cavalry, who had now emerged from their turtle shells, Jiang Yuhu had already led his soldiers directly into the opponent's camp like a hot knife cutting through lard.

Jiang Yuhu held a spear in his hand, never stabbing, sweeping, swinging, collapsing, and smashing. His horse speed did not slow down at all, and his eyes were fixed on the real leader of the opponent's formation who had been locked by him for a long time.

The man who planned and commanded this amazing battle under such extreme circumstances.

The other side seemed to have noticed his intention, and immediately sent out several people to stop him. However, those who could serve as Jiang Yuhu's personal guards were mediocre people. These people were immediately blocked by the personal guards.

The lights were shining brightly, and Jiang Yuhu could already see the other person's covered eyes.

His pupils suddenly shrank, and he swung away the opponent's long sword in his hand. The gun pointed at the opponent's back followed his thoughts and moved away at the critical moment, then swung sideways and struck the opponent's shoulder armor.

female?

Jiang Yuhu suppressed the shock in his heart, swung his spear, passed by, and directly caught the battered opponent on his horse.

"The enemy chief has been captured! Surrender and avoid death!"

The rest of the Wudang Army followed Jiang Yuhu and charged forward. After killing the opponent, they turned their horses and shouted in unison. The person captured by Jiang Yuhu seemed to have great authority over the Loulan people. Everyone looked at Jiang Yuhu. Although they did not surrender in response, they hesitated and did not dare to act rashly.

At this time, Yelvxiu's crane-controlling army had just arrived on the battlefield.

Jiang Yuhu smiled and said: "General Yelu, no need to thank you too much. We are allies and we all have our responsibilities."

Yelu Xiu suffered the loss of being mute and was taken advantage of by Jiang Yuhu, but one thing is that Jiang Yuhu did not take the opportunity to go to the city to grab credit, but only raided the surrounding areas, and he could not say anything.

"Your Highness Prince Jing, you're welcome. If nothing happens, I will enter the city."

Jiang Yuhu nodded, "General Yelu, I want to remind you."

"Your Highness, please speak."

"We are not here to destroy the country. If you don't want to cause troubles in the future and make your Majesty our two countries angry, you'd better forgive them for their actions as their own masters and restrain your subordinates."

Yelu Xiu felt solemn, his murderous intention disappeared, and he nodded subconsciously.

Immediately he was stunned again, turned his head and took a deep look at Jiang Yuhu, then rode away.

Damn it, you’ve bought people’s hearts, right? Even if I don't commit any crime by then, people will still think of you Jiang Yuhu and the Southern Dynasty!

Who said this man with thick eyebrows and big eyes is a reckless man? I think his scheming is not much worse than that of Xia Jingyun, who is said to have 800 scheming minds!

Not mentioning Yelu Xiu who left full of resentment, Jiang Yuhu looked at the figure being straddled on his horse and said calmly: "Don't pretend to be faint, you have more than two thousand brothers here! What I just said is benevolent and righteous enough!"

In front of him, there was a roar, but on this battlefield of blood and fire, it was as sweet as an oriole.

"You are despicable! You are shameless!"

Sure enough, it's a woman

Jiang Yuhu cursed and said calmly, "Are you from the Central Plains?"

The woman he held sideways on the saddle fell silent.

Jiang Yuhu didn't force himself. He looked at the Lou Lan soldiers on the opposite side and said, "Put down your weapons and rest for now. I'll talk to your leader, whose identity I don't know, and then we'll talk about it. Believe me, I will be better than those Beiliang people." trustworthy."

At this time, a man on the opposite side said: "We know that you are the military god of the Southern Dynasties and are willing to believe in you. But can you guarantee the princess's safety?"

"Princess?" Jiang Yuhu smiled, "Okay, I promise."

As he said this, Jiang Yuhu, amid the sound of weapons falling to the ground, slowly rode his horse, took the other party to the side of the slope, and dismounted leisurely.

Throwing the opponent to the ground and taking off his helmet, Jiang Yuhu only felt that the firelight in the night was a little brighter.

With bright eyes and white teeth, there is a bit of unruliness and wildness in his eyes that he has experienced in the wind and sand of the Western Regions. Paired with his tall and strong figure, it is no wonder that he can become the leader of the warriors.

But Jiang Yuhu was not very interested in women, so he sat aside and said, "At first, I thought some of the military advisors or ministers in your country were from Daxia, but I didn't expect that the ruler was from Daxia." Tell me, what’s going on?”

The woman snorted, "What Daxia people? We are Loulan people, people from the Western Regions!"

"You take a picture of yourself when you are peeing. Do you look anything like the people from the Western Regions?"

Jiang Yuhu snorted, and then thought that he seemed a little embarrassed to say such words to a woman, so he added a few more words, "Many of the techniques you use to defend the city are from the Central Plains. You can't hide this from me."

The woman was silent.

Jiang Yuhu said slowly: "You can understand the situation, you know that besieging the isolated city is a dead end, and you also understand Yelvxiu's intention of surrounding three missing ones, so you used the trick, hoping to hit Yeluxiu hard and make Beiliang retreat in the face of difficulties, or You are asking for a good condition, rather than being a conquered person. It shows that you see things very clearly."

"The fact that you were able to devise such tactics tonight and almost trap a famous Northern Liang general like Yelu Xiu shows that you are smart enough."

"In this case, do you think it is necessary to hide in this situation? Or is it a wise choice for you to refuse my kindness?"

After a long silence, just when Jiang Yuhu's extra patience because the other party was a woman was about to run out, the other party finally spoke, which made Jiang Yuhu a little confused.

"My ancestors are indeed from the Central Plains. But they are not from Daxia."

She looked at Jiang Yuhu with a bit of pride, "My ancestor was the minister of the Ministry of Rites of the Wu Dynasty. Later, he went to Yongwu Prefecture under the emperor's order. He was trapped due to a rebellion. Then a group of rebellious officials and traitors from the Dongfang family conspired to seize the throne. Our ancestors Not wanting to become a thief, he traveled to the Western Regions and kept recruiting old people from the Wu Dynasty. After five generations, he finally became the Lord of Loulan Kingdom."

Jiang Yuhu finally understood what was going on with the strange familiarity he saw today.

He raised his eyebrows and said, "It's been three hundred years, but it's certainly not easy."

The other party snorted, "So, do you think we have to surrender to you bunch of rebellious traitors?"

Jiang Yuhu thought for a while, "It's been three hundred years, and the previous royal family has disappeared. How can you still be loyal to them?"

"This is the ancestral teaching!"

Jiang Yuhu snorted softly, "Then you have to submit to Beiliang? What is the saying that you would rather be with foreign enemies than domestic slaves?"

"It's even more impossible for barbarians!"

"I just praised you for being sober, and now you're talking nonsense here. If you want to talk like this, I'm not interested."

The opponent's face, as beautiful as a snow lotus, immediately showed visible nervousness. If they fell into the hands of Beiliang Barbarian, their fate would be even worse.

Seeing her fall into silence, Jiang Yuhu said calmly: "Let's go. It's hard to leave our homeland. It's time to go back. I can assure you that the court will not pursue you. It would be great to go back and be a rich man with beautiful scenery."

"This is our homeland! We will not surrender to the enemy!"

Jiang Yuhu snorted, "Now that this has become your hometown, we have another bloody feud!"

The other side fell silent again.

"Would you like to go?"

"Don't go?"

Jiang Yuhu bent down and directly lifted the opponent up.

The woman immediately struggled, "You, what are you doing!"

Jiang Yuhu said calmly: "I see you are pretty good-looking and have some brains. It just so happens that I haven't gotten married yet, and my family has been passed down to only three generations, so I can't do anything wrong to you."

"You're dreaming!"

Jiang Yuhu slapped her on the butt, "You are my prisoner now, please be honest?"

"You don't even know my name, how can you be so ridiculous!"

"Then what's your name?"

"Wu Qinghuang."
-

In the middle of Beijing, the Ninghou Mansion was built.

After hearing Qin Li and Su Yanyan's suggestion, Xia Jingyun laughed, then slowly shook his head and said, "Your idea is very good, but it is impossible for Ning Zhen to marry Jiang Yuhu, and it is impossible for Jiang Yuhu to marry Ning Zhen."

Qin Li was stunned for a moment, and Su Yanyan was thoughtful.

Xia Jingyun said slowly: "Given that the Xia family is now a double-marquis family, no matter who Ning Zhen marries, she will definitely be the official wife. If she marries Jiang Yuhu, she will be Princess Jing. Think about it, this is equivalent to me being in power. On top of that, he has obtained military power, or Jiang Yuhu has taken control of the court in addition to military power. If this happens, how many people will be unable to sleep? Even my sister may stop this."

The two girls suddenly realized, and immediately felt a little embarrassed. When they came up with this idea, they never expected that their husband's position would rise so quickly, and now he has become the head of the officials both in name and in fact.

"Not only that, Jiang Yuhu's marriage has always been a big problem."

Xia Jingyun smiled at the two girls and said: "With his status, those who want to be Princess Jing can line up all the way from Zhongjing City to Lieyang Pass. However, any wealthy family will not be considered by him and Zhulin. Once he takes the If you marry a daughter from an aristocratic family, some people will definitely speculate that the Jiang family has changed their minds, which is also one of Zhulin's ways of showing his loyalty. Look at the daughters of common people both Mr. Jiang and Jiang Yuhu's father married."

He looked at the two daughters who suddenly realized, "But it is better to marry a virtuous wife than to waste it. Jiang Yuhu has been fighting in the field for these years and has little chance to meet those women who are from humble backgrounds and have talents. That's why he has not yet married a wife at such an age. It’s quite a difficult task.”

The two girls knew the elegance of the song after hearing it, "We also help to keep an eye on it on weekdays. If there is something suitable, please ask your husband to check it first, and then recommend it to the bamboo forest."

Xia Jingyun nodded, and just as he was about to say something, the housekeeper came in a hurry, "Master, the prince is here."

Soon, Wang De, who was in charge of the inner court after Jin Zhong went on tour with Dongfang Bai, hurried over and said respectfully: "Xia Xiang, the Queen Mother has summoned you. Please follow this old slave into the palace."

Xia Jingyun raised his eyebrows, "What's the matter?"

Wang De smiled and said, "The Queen Mother also ordered the old slave to tell Xiang Xiang to lead Chen Fugui into the palace."

Xia Jingyun understood immediately and nodded, "Okay."

He turned to look at Qin Li, "Brother Chen, have everything been arranged?"

Qin Li hummed, "Everything has been arranged. Please don't worry, husband."

"Okay." Xia Jingyun stood up, "Let's prepare a family dinner. I'll be right back." (End of Chapter)