Jiuxi

Chapter 660: 658 [Mantis Catches Cicada]

On the northern city wall of Teng County, a group of people were looking at the vast mountains and rivers in the north.

Hou Yuanlie, the commander of the Zhenbei Army, was 35 years old at the time. He was born and raised in Taixing Prefecture, Huaizhou. He joined the army at the age of 17 and stayed in the Zhenbei Army for 18 years. He grew up from a poor soldier to the commander of 4,000 elite soldiers. He experienced almost all the wars between Qi Yan and Qi Jing near Huaizhou over the years.

He felt that he was of mediocre talent and his performance on the battlefield was not outstanding, but he could accumulate some military merits in every battle, and more importantly, no one infringed upon or erased his achievements.

The three successive commanders of the Zhenbei Army, Xiao Wangzhi, Chen Lanyu and Pei Sui, can be said to be of the same lineage and are able to clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments. This is also the source of the Zhenbei Army's ability to maintain its strong combat effectiveness.

Even a soldier like Hou Yuanlie, who has no background and not particularly outstanding military achievements, will also have his day to succeed.

Long years of military career made Hou Yuanlie look a little old, more like a middle-aged man in his forties. His face seemed to be chiseled by wind, frost and an axe. Having seen too many separations and deaths over the years, the expression on his face seemed a little dull.

He looked at the young woman in military uniform standing next to him and said calmly, "General Li, since the beginning of September, the frequency of Jing Army cavalry appearing outside Teng County has been increasing. I have already reported this to General Pei. Yesterday evening, the sentry reported that a large group of Jing Army cavalry was found passing by more than 20 miles to the north, with at least 2,000 cavalry. This morning, I sent people to investigate on the spot again and found that it was true. This group of Jing Army cavalry has moved to the southwest, and their real target is still unknown."

Logically speaking, the probability of Jing Army's cavalry appearing near the border is quite high, but the Battle of Yongqiu has only been over half a year, and Qing Yugong was dismissed from his military post. The Jing Army should have licked its wounds and recovered in the past two years and would not rashly resort to violence.

However, Hou Yuanlie, a veteran with rich experience, could sense from the recent anomalies outside the border that the Jing army did have the intention of harassing.

Li Bingxue asked calmly, "Did you send the military intelligence to Commander Pei?"

Hou Yuanlie replied, "Yes."

Under Lu Chen's arrangement, the southwestern defense line of Dingzhou was garrisoned in sections by the Zhenbei Army and the Guangling Army, while the Feiyu Army was responsible for assisting defense and providing support.

Hou Yuanlie found Li Bingxue because, on the one hand, Li Bingxue had informed her colleagues from the other two armies before the trip, and everyone knew her whereabouts. Hou Yuanlie knew that she was near Teng County. On the other hand, this was the duty of the Feiyu Army. Only cavalry could fight against cavalry in the wild, which was a well-known truth.

Li Bingxue was not unfamiliar with this. As early as last year when the war just started, Qing Yugong had dispatched several cavalry units to break into Jingzhou. At that time, it was she who led the Feiyu Army to drive out the enemy's cavalry.

Is it going to happen again now?
The problem is that at that time, the Jing army cavalry was cooperating with the main army in adopting the harassment strategy. Why are they doing this now?
Whether judging from the actual situation or looking at the intelligence sent back from the north, Wu Yanshu, the governor of Nanjing, showed no signs of starting a war.

It is not an easy task to march out a large army, especially for an army as large as Qi Jing's. Even if it is just a few tens of thousands of troops, the amount of food and fodder that needs to be prepared and the number of civilians that need to be recruited are still huge, and it is impossible to hide it from the public.

Since the Jing army has no plans to attack at present, what is the situation with the cavalry that suddenly appeared in the north of Teng County?
Could it be that the other party was just bored and came to the south for a trip?
Huangfu Yu, who was standing next to us, pondered and said, "General, could it be that the Jing army is deliberately setting up a false formation to make our army doubt itself?"

"Wu Yanshu is not that naive. Our army is not a rookie. How could they be so panicked?"

Li Bingxue calmly gave his judgment, and then said: "This cavalry of the Jing Army is more like bait."

"Bait?"

Huangfu Yu and Hou Yuanlie repeated these two words almost at the same time.

Li Bingxue looked towards the north and said slowly, "In the past few years, the Jing army has been defeated repeatedly on the front battlefield. Wu Yanshu can't continue to be arrogant. In comparison, their cavalry still has a certain advantage. Their troops are far more than ours, and their combat power is not weaker at all. If our cavalry is lured by them and thinks that they can easily eat up a small group of Jing cavalry and then go deep into the enemy's territory, they are very likely to run into the encirclement."

The other two nodded in unison.

Thinking about it carefully, Li Bingxue's analysis is indeed closest to the truth, otherwise it cannot explain why the Jing army cavalry suddenly approached the border.

This was completely different from last year when she led her troops to drive away the Jing Army cavalry.

At that time, the Feiyu Army was cruising in Jingzhou, with close cooperation from garrisons in various places. There were also outposts and cavalry throughout the territory that could provide information on the enemy's movements at any time. At worst, they could enter nearby cities and fortresses for supplies and rest, so there was not much danger.

Now the Jing Army's cavalry is operating outside the border of Da Qi. If the Feiyu Army is eager to make merit and rashly pursues the enemy into enemy territory, it would not be surprising if they are surrounded by the enemy.

Hou Yuanlie couldn't help but say in conviction: "General Li, how should our army respond next?"

Li Bingxue pondered for a moment, then said slowly, "Captain Hou, Teng County is now the gateway to the southwest of Dingzhou, and this place must not be lost. You are under the command of General Pei, and I should not interfere in your affairs. However, since I am here, I still want to remind you that no matter what the situation is outside, you must not take the initiative to attack, and your only responsibility is to defend Teng County."

Hou Yuanlie naturally wouldn't mind.

Putting aside Li Bingxue's family background, the achievements she has made on the battlefield in recent years are enough to convince the men in the army.

He responded respectfully: "I will obey your orders."

Li Bingxue looked at Huangfu Yu and said, "You go to Pingli City and select 3,000 cavalrymen to patrol the southwest. Remember not to rush ahead and not to cross the border without permission. You only need to guard against the cavalry of the Jing army that may enter the country to harass. If you disobey the military order, I will not let you off easily."

Huangfu Yu did not dare to be careless, and said solemnly: "I obey your orders!" Li Bingxue nodded slightly, and said calmly: "Don't worry too much, I will discuss with Generals Pei and Liu immediately, and send all the recent military information to the Governor's Office, and Governor Lu will make the decision. The Jing army is no longer the invincible enemy it was more than a decade ago. At most, they are now using small groups of cavalry to harass our troops. As long as all our troops strictly guard their garrisons, the border defense will be as stable as a mountain."

They both agreed in unison.

Their expressions were all very calm. After all, this was the normal life of soldiers on the frontier. They might face enemy invasion at any time. Although they were not on the alert for war, it was difficult for them to have a truly leisurely moment.

Killing and crisis are always part of daily life on the border.

Li Bingxue then said goodbye to Hou Yuanlie and returned to Ningling from Teng County with 300 cavalrymen. Huangfu Yu went to Pingli City to gather troops and patrol the border.

At the same time, in the northeast of Jingzhou.

Today, Jingzhou and Huaizhou are no longer connected only by the ancient road of Shuangfeng Mountains. Through the hub of Panlong Pass, the connections between the two places are becoming more frequent and close.

This road starts from Panlong Pass in the east and ends at Changshou County in the northeast of Jingzhou in the west. The entire journey is about 300 miles long. More and more caravans choose to travel between Jingzhou and Huaizhou via this road.

It was a clear and crisp autumn day, and a small caravan was moving along the way.

This caravan came from the Chen family business in Taixing Prefecture, Huaizhou. The person in charge was Chen Yuanchang, a member of the Chen family's side branch. Since he was not good at studying since childhood, he started working in his own business at the age of seventeen. He traveled all over the country in the past few years and had long been accustomed to a life on the road.

This time, the transportation of a batch of goods to Jingzhou went quite smoothly along the way, and there was no trouble even at Panlong Pass.

Chen Yuanchang sat in the carriage, calculating how much silver he could earn from this journey and how much compensation he could get, and his mood became more and more relaxed.

There seemed to be a faint sound of muffled thunder.

Chen Yuanchang was secretly puzzled. Could it be that the weather changed so suddenly?
He raised his hand, lifted the car curtain and looked out, only to see that it was still sunny outside, without any sign of impending storm.

At this moment, there were several screams from the front, and then the attendant outside the carriage shouted in fear: "Boss, something happened!"

Chen Yuanchang's heart tightened and he hurriedly walked out of the carriage. What he saw made him almost dizzy.

At this time, the caravan had entered the territory of Xinchang Prefecture in Jingzhou, and was still a long way from Changshou County. Moreover, it was located in the wilderness, with no village in front and no shop behind. It was the most desolate section of the road.

More than a hundred feet ahead, a group of armored and armed cavalry appeared in front of everyone in the store.

Others might not be able to recognize it, but Chen Yuanchang was knowledgeable and recognized at a glance that the light armor worn by these cavalrymen were definitely not from the border troops of the Great Qi, but from the Jing Army cavalry that was rumored to kill without blinking an eye.

"Escape quickly——"

Chen Yuanchang roared without thinking, but before he could finish, the cavalry on the opposite side accelerated and rushed over!
Everyone looked despair.

In fact, at the beginning, the people and merchants of the two places did not dare to take this road. After all, it was not very far from the territory controlled by Jing Jun, and safety was difficult to guarantee. However, as the border soldiers built fences on the border and Jing Jun had never appeared, more and more people took this road.

Who knew I would see this scene today?
Although the caravan had guards, they were crushed to pieces in an instant by the one or two thousand fierce-looking cavalrymen of the Jing army.

The knife flashed and blood spurted out.

Screams came and went.

Chen Yuanchang's hands and feet were cold and he stood beside the carriage, unable to move.

The cavalry of the Jing army regarded human life as worthless. They slaughtered everyone in the merchant house with a grim smile, but did not attack Chen Yuanchang.

The honest merchant looked pale as he watched several Jing army cavalrymen approach him. One of them said, "Go back and tell that damn commander Lu that we will kill every Qi person we see from now on!"

The rest of the Jing army all laughed wildly.

The man picked up the bloody long knife and wiped it on Chen Yuanchang's face, then shouted: "Let's go, the Qi cavalry will catch up soon."

The Jing army cheered and then rode away.

Only Chen Yuanchang was left standing alone among dozens of corpses, howling miserably.

(End of this chapter)