Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 523: Dark Moon and High Wind, Killing Night
It's the middle of the night, this is the time of the day when people are most sleepy.

An Shouzhong yawned, stood up and walked out of the government office. He took a few soldiers with him to patrol the city and found nothing happened.

This made him feel relieved.

As they continued to collect grain in the countryside of Beizhou Village, An Shouzhong keenly realized that the locals were beginning to hate them.

The attitude of unwillingness to cooperate is very clear!

There were often cases of lone soldiers going missing, and military supplies being stolen, but in the end they were never found and the matter was left unresolved.

This situation is a bit unpleasant, but it's not a big deal.

Because they will not be stationed in Beizhou permanently, but will go north along the canal as a force to encircle and suppress Fang Chongyong.

So what if the locals hate them? So what?

Anyway, if the sky falls, Huangfu Weiming will hold it up!

An Shouzhong was not worried at all.

Because he was sleepy, he couldn't help yawning.

Suddenly remembering something, An Shouzhong looked around and asked, "By the way, where is Zhou Zhi?"

"General An, General Zhou is in the camp outside the city!"

A personal soldier answered.

An Shouzhong nodded slightly, then he remembered that the two of them had actually agreed to guard different places and support each other.

An Shouzhong felt something was wrong today. He had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, but he couldn't tell why.

However, according to the rotation plan, Zhou Zhi is indeed outside the city today, while he is inside the city.

They will be transferred here tomorrow. He will be outside the city, Zhou Zhi will be inside the city, and they and their troops will all be transferred together.

Of course, such great efforts were also made for defensive purposes, to prevent the guards at key locations (such as city gates) from being bribed and causing a disaster.

An Shouzhong deployed the military carefully, but he didn't care about the lives of the local people, nor did he care about his relationship with the locals. Perhaps in his eyes, those "grassroots people" were not worth paying attention to.

He walked up to the top of the city wall, took a round tour, and even confirmed the identities of the guards at each city gate. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Perhaps because he was too nervous, An Shouzhong also felt that he was a little too nervous.

"What is the military situation around Beizhou? Have the bandit troops from Jizhou returned to Beizhou?"

An Shouzhong turned his head and asked a personal soldier beside him.

"There is no movement on the main roads and official roads."

The guard replied with a wry smile.

"What about the canal?"

An Shouzhong asked in a deep voice. He had already realized that the guards were just trying to fool him.

"General An, what could possibly happen to the canal? The last wave of scouts reported that the enemy troops had already gone to Dezhou and the ships were still docked there."

The guard continued to answer in a ambiguous manner.

An Shouzhong nodded slightly, sighed and said: "Go get the Ten Military Sticks yourself!"

The soldier's face froze, then he saluted and left.

An Shouzhong also knew what was going on, but things happened for their own reasons, and he didn't want to dwell on these minor mistakes.

Because of the attitude of the local people in Beizhou, An Shouzhong could not establish a dense intelligence network like he did in the border areas.

It took a long time for the scouts in the army to go to Texas and back. They had to go there and back on horseback, which was very hard work.

A lone person could easily be killed by the locals, so the scouts were unwilling to do this job and they rarely went out to fight.

Basically, there is no movement, so we can report it. The investigation cannot be particularly detailed.

Just like the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", the scouts went to Dezhou several times to investigate the military situation and found that the Silver Spear Xiaojie Army only had its boats parked on the canal, but the army was already wreaking havoc in Jizhou.

Who would really think that the Silver Spear Xiaojie Army would come back to attack?
Wouldn't it be enough to just do it perfunctorily?

An Shouzhong was unable to lead his cavalry to attack the boats on the river, so he could only secretly accumulate strength in Beizhou, wait for the grain and fodder from Liyang to arrive in Weizhou, and then meet up with the reinforcements from Weizhou, escort the grain and fodder to Beizhou together, and then make plans.

Due to various reasons, An Shouzhong was unable to grasp the situation in the east in real time.

This feeling was very bad and often made him worried.

"Did Zhou Zhi send someone to report that he's safe?"

An Shouzhong asked another personal soldier beside him.

The soldier was a little nervous and swallowed his saliva before slowly answering: "General An, an hour ago, the camp outside the city sent someone to report that everything was safe. The password and military order match."

"Don't be nervous. You won't get beaten if you don't make any mistakes."

An Shouzhong forced a smile and waved his hand gently.

He immediately realized that his neurotic nature of asking questions all the time had frightened the soldiers around him.

"Let's go back to the government office."

An Shouzhong gave a casual order and immediately walked down the city wall.

Just as he turned around, the soldier beside him inadvertently looked in the direction of the stable outside the city. It would have been fine if he hadn't looked, but once he did, he was so frightened that his soul flew away!

"General An! Over there! Over there!"

The soldier was so frightened that he became incoherent and pulled An Shouzhong to turn around and look!

"What else..."

An Shouzhong turned around and was about to curse when he saw a scene that shocked him.

A stable not far from the city was on fire! It was already blazing, and the fire was spreading at an astonishing speed!
The cries, the wailing of horses, and the crackling of burning wood were mixed together, making it impossible to distinguish them.

In the firelight, a group of cavalrymen were vaguely seen throwing flaming oil into the stable. An Shouzhong's pupils suddenly contracted, and a surge of blood rushed to his head.

The fatigue of the past few days had already taken a toll on his body.

An Shouzhong's eyes suddenly turned white, and then he fell on his back and lost consciousness.

"General An!"

The personal soldiers behind An Shouzhong were also frightened and ran over to support him, preventing him from falling to the ground.

These people cut the Ren Zhong acupoint and shook the opponent's body, but An Shouzhong did not wake up. His breathing was not stopped, so he must have fainted.

The personal guards no longer cared about the fire in the stable outside the city. They carried An Shouzhong back to the government office and settled him down, standing guard outside his bedroom without leaving for a moment.

……

Horses are social animals, and after an accident, they will often follow other horses in the chaos.

Wang Nande, who was lying in ambush on the bank of the Yongji Canal, watched the herd of horses escape from the stable and run after the "arson team" led by He Changqi.

They actually broke up their formation and all ran towards the distant canal boats. From a distance, they looked like a group of defeated soldiers fleeing.

Wang Nan couldn't help but laugh secretly. He Lao Hu was fearless in leading his troops to fight, but in the end, his formation was disrupted by a group of beasts. If he lost the battle because of this, he would have no place to cry.

However, it seems that the defenders of Qinghe County did not leave the city to pursue, so He Changqi escaped. He was lucky.

Fang Zhongyong had given Wang Nan a briefing, telling him to only attack the pursuers from the camp outside the city, and not those coming out of the city. There must be a cavalry in the city, and if they chased them out of the city at this time, they might be able to capture them. After all, Fang Zhongyong had not expected that the horses would like to follow the cavalry, nor had he expected that a scattered herd of horses would cause trouble.

"Do you think He Lao Hu and his men look like a group of stray dogs?"

The king asked the personal soldier beside him.

People around me don’t dare to answer because this kind of thing can easily get out and have a bad impact.

Wang had the rare opportunity to mock He Changqi for winning the battle in a cowardly manner, but the personal soldiers around him did not dare to say anything like that.

Seeing that no one agreed with him, Wang Nandi felt bored and stopped talking, staring intently in the direction of the camp outside the city.

Soon, a dense group of infantrymen came running towards the stable, each holding a torch, like a fire dragon.

They are in the light, and the king is rarely in the dark. If you use darkness to see the light, you can see everything clearly.

Half of the team were wearing armor, some were holding wooden spears, and some were holding swords and shields.

Half of them were not wearing armor, some of them were holding lassoes, and they seemed to be here to catch horses, while others were carrying several wooden barrels, and they seemed to be here to put out the fire.

"General Wang, shall we charge?"

A personal soldier asked in a low voice.

"No rush, just wait."

Wang rarely found that the enemy's formation seemed to be very dense, and everyone was crowded together. Once chaos broke out, they might be able to form a formation to protect themselves. It was not the best time to rush forward.

Qinghe County has a moat, which draws water from a tributary of the Zhang River in the north.

Soon, Wang Nandi saw many people throwing away their swords, shields and wooden spears, and some even took off their armor and fetched water from the moat.

Then he took a bucket and poured water into the stable, trying to put out the fire.

"Band drums!"

It was rare for Wang to give a direct order at this time. He was ready to give it a try.

dong dong dong!dong dong dong!
dong dong dong!dong dong dong!
A dull drumbeat sounded, and the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army cavalry, who had been ready for action, quickly rushed out from the artificial forest on the riverside after hearing the drumbeat!
Wang Nandai rushed to the front, relying on the charge of the horse and a shake of the lance in his hand, and beheaded a Hebei rebel soldier who was retreating towards the city gate!

The head flew high up, fell to the ground and rolled many times before it stopped.

The power of the cavalry charge was undoubtedly demonstrated.

As An Shouzhong was unconscious, the defenders on the city wall were extremely anxious, but no one dared to open the city gates to let the fleeing soldiers in! They even dared not go out of the city to reinforce!
At this moment, countless torches lit up on the other side of the river! Along with the light of the torches, there was also a deafening sound of drums!

It was like a blow to the heart of every soldier defending the city.

You can’t go out. You absolutely can’t go out!
Everyone in Chengtoushan felt a sense of powerlessness and kept reminding themselves not to leave the city.

If the main force in the city goes to pursue the enemy, it would be a very terrible thing for the enemy troops on the other side of the river to cross the river and attack the city, or to join the battle and take advantage of the situation!

However, what was frustrating was that the Hebei rebel soldiers on the top of the city only had to consider whether to send reinforcements, but the people fighting the fire in the stables outside the city had a lot to consider.

For example, how to survive in this melee!
Wang Nandai was almost blood-thirsty outside the city, and showed no mercy to the Hebei rebels who had lost their organization. The 1,500 cavalrymen were divided into three teams, and they attacked in the west, east, and south according to the pattern they had trained and were very familiar with, chasing and killing the fleeing soldiers all the way.

The one-sided massacre stimulated the nerves of every cavalryman. They killed people as if it had become muscle memory. In the dark night, there was no surrender and no killing without disarming.

In the dim firelight, they had given up on identifying friend or foe. Anyone who was not on horseback would be killed without mercy!

Many of the long spears they used broke when they were thrust into the enemy's body during the rapid charge, so they quickly switched to short weapons such as hammers and axes and continued to fight.

Outside Qinghe County, it has almost become a hunting ground full of "prey".

The cavalry were chasing the infantry who had lost their weapons, and the latter were simply unable to organize any effective resistance.

They came out in a hurry, were not fully equipped when forming the formation, and were hit by clubs when putting out the fire.

Not to mention that Zhou Zhi's fighting skills and tactics were quite average, even if Han Xin were here at this moment, he would have no choice but to run away.

When Xiang Yu fought in Pengcheng, he defeated the Han army of 600,000 with only 30,000 cavalry. The infantry was broken up and attacked by surprise. Even the most capable generals could not organize an effective resistance.

This moment is like that moment.

The Hebei rebel soldiers on the city wall turned pale with fear as they watched the one-sided massacre below the city, the heads rolling to the ground, the broken arms and limbs, and the blood whose color could not be seen at night.

It kept hitting their nerves, and many people felt their stomachs churning.

These people were secretly glad in their hearts. According to the daily rotation rules set by An Shouzhong, if the raiding enemy had arrived a day earlier or a day later, they would have been the ones to die!

This is purely a victory of betting on odd and even numbers!

In less than an hour, the shouting and screaming from below the city gradually died down, and the sound of horse hooves gradually faded away. Looking across the river, the torches were all extinguished, and it was unknown whether the ambushers were still there.

Within the range of an arrow from the city, the corpses of Hebei rebels were everywhere, which made people's scalps tingle.

At this moment, with the help of his personal soldiers, An Shouzhong slowly walked up to the city wall. He held onto the parapet with both hands and looked outside the city, only to see corpses everywhere under the light of the fire.

It looks like the scalp is numb.

And in those places where the firelight could not reach, there must be many corpses, and of course, there might also be ambushing enemies.

Anyway, no one was willing to test it, and no one dared to open the city gate to collect the bodies.

An Shouzhong's face was pale as he looked at everything outside the city. The tragic scene was so heartbreaking that it made anyone cry.

He clenched his fists, feeling angry, regretful, and unwilling.

But there is nowhere to vent!
He could have done something, but after thinking about it, An Shouzhong realized that even if he hadn't fainted, he couldn't do anything in the city.

If I leave the city... it would be almost like committing suicide.

This made him feel depressed.

After a long time, An Shouzhong ordered his personal soldiers in a hoarse voice: "Pass the order to go out of the city to collect the bodies after daybreak. Anyone who leaves the city before daybreak will be killed without mercy."

"Order!"

The personal soldiers took the order carefully and left, not daring to say anything for fear of angering their commander.

At this moment, An Shouzhong was so heartbroken that he could hardly speak. He shook his head with a sad face, and after a long time, he sighed and said, "Let's go back to the government office. There's nothing to see here."

If he had failed in Liaocheng and suffered a small loss in Qinghe County, An Shouzhong could still make excuses, saying that he did not lead the troops himself, that the enemy was cunning and made a feint, etc.

Anyway, if he were to do it himself and fight with real weapons, he might not lose.

However, this time, Fang Chongyong gave An Shouzhong a loud slap in the face!

I did hit you, and even though I was outnumbered, I still managed to restrain you so much that you had no chance to fight back.

Are you convinced?
An Shouzhong was dissatisfied, but the cruel reality left him unable to refute.

I was angry, but I refused to admit defeat, and yet I couldn't lie with my eyes open.

This made An Shouzhong feel very conflicted, and his confidence was trampled upon.

The few personal soldiers beside him looked at each other, not daring to say anything, and followed An Shouzhong silently.

(End of this chapter)