Troubled times: Start practicing spiritual practice by taking care of your sister-in-law.

Chapter 597: Songjiapo Battle

Zhang He was very happy to hear that Guo Xian was not married. While the maid was pouring tea, Zhang He said with a smile:

"This general has a daughter who is in her twenties. She admires scholars, especially talented scholars, and has been begging this general to find her a husband who is a scholar."

As he spoke, Zhang He took a sip of tea. Although he was not well-educated, he was now in a high position. His conversation was much more elegant than before. He then put down his wine glass, glanced at "Mr. Guo" and said calmly, "I wonder if Mr. Guo is willing to start a family in Pingting County?"

Hearing this, Dai Tu's heart skipped a beat. He was a very shrewd man, otherwise he would not have discovered the loophole in the imperial examination and took action immediately to come to Qingzhou to take the exam.

Similarly, he also realized that there was an opportunity waiting for him.

Zhang He is a person close to the Duke of Anguo, and he is also the first person to follow the Duke of Anguo. Although he does not know why he has fallen to this point, if he becomes the son-in-law of this "old man", it will definitely give a great boost to his career.

Zhang He was a man who could not sit still. Seeing that "Mr. Guo" did not answer his question, he said, "If Mr. Guo agrees, this general can guarantee that any state or county in the north can be selected by Mr. Guo to serve."

Zhang He is not bragging.

If "Guo Xian" really became his son-in-law, Zhang He would personally go to the Duke of Anguo and say a few good words for him.

"Guo Xian" is talented, having ranked first in the provincial examination in Qingzhou. He is not a lazy man. Relying on his reputation, there should be no problem in recommending "Guo Xian" to randomly select a county to be the county magistrate.

At this time, the housekeeper and legal advisor at the side hurriedly leaned over to Zhang He's ear and whispered a few words.

Zhang He looked embarrassed for a moment, and added: "Of course, Mr. Guo, you don't have to answer in a hurry. You can go home and ask the two elders for their opinions first."

If it weren't for his lawyer's reminder, Zhang He would have almost forgotten this point. For such a major matter as marriage, no matter whether it is a man or a woman, the parents must first agree. Scholars care about this even more.

But at this time, Dai Tu said: "General, you don't know that my parents have passed away many years ago due to the war. For me, the whole world is my home. The reason why I didn't answer the general in time just now was that I was a little terrified. How could I be so worthy of your favor?"

There is one thing that Dai Tu did not lie about. His parents had indeed passed away a long time ago, but they did not die in the war, but died of illness. Fortunately, he was an adult when his parents passed away and could take care of himself.

Hearing this, Zhang He's face became full of smiles. After all, he was a scholar, so his words were pleasant to the ears. But soon his smile faded and he said in a deep voice, "I'm sorry, Mr. Guo, please accept my condolences."

"It's okay, it's already passed."

Zhang He nodded and immediately ordered, "Go and bring the young lady here."

Soon, a girl with bright eyes and white teeth walked into the hall.

The girl was not Zhang He's biological daughter, but because she was not his biological daughter, she did not inherit Zhang He's good looks.
Dai Tu had already prepared himself to marry the ugly girl, but when he saw that the girl was pretty, he was overjoyed and all his reservations were gone. He wished he could get married this month to avoid any more complications.

Zhang He had been observing Dai Tu's expression. Seeing his satisfied look, he was overjoyed and said, "Zhu'er, come and meet Master Guo. He is the top winner of the Qingzhou provincial examination."

"My humble lady greets Mr. Guo." Zhang Zhu said.

After being adopted by Zhang He's wife, his name was naturally changed.

Zhang Zhu knew her situation in the Zhang family, so she hoped to get married as soon as possible. Seeing that "Guo Xian" was the first in this provincial examination, she was very satisfied.

Both parties were satisfied.

Dai Tu has no parents.

Then the marriage will be arranged by Zhang He.
He smiled and said, "After the examination is over next spring, I will ask Duke Anguo to preside over your wedding ceremony."

Dai Tu was overjoyed.

Let’s not talk about anything else.

If he could use the fact that Duke Anguo personally presided over his wedding ceremony as an article, it would be enough to help him rise to prominence.

"Thank you, General."

"Still call me General?"

"Thank you, father-in-law."

"A good son-in-law."

……

the other side.

After returning to the inn, Dai Ling thought about it and fell into deep self-doubt.

Could it be that I really recognized the wrong person?
impossible.

There are no two people in the world who look exactly the same, have the same height, voice, body shape, and even the same mole at the corner of their eye.

Even twins are different.

But then he slapped his forehead.

I secretly cursed myself for being a fool.

Maybe I recognized the wrong person? I won’t know until I go back to Yanzhou to check.

If Dai Tu was at home, then the man from Qingzhou had really made a mistake.

He loaded the goods he purchased from Qingzhou and set off for home that same day.

Dai Ling was a traveling merchant. He mainly went to Qingzhou to buy refined salt and perfume and then sold them in Yanzhou. He could make a fortune by doing this.

At this time, Dai Tu was searching the whole city for Dai Ling.

I met Lin Zhong and Guo Ning before, but since we only knew each other for a short time, I would be able to fool them even if I met them later.

But Dai Ling couldn't do that, he recognized himself.

He is a variable.

Dai Tu couldn't let him ruin his good deeds.

Dai Tu had to resolve this variable in advance.

But Pingting County is neither big nor small.

This matter cannot be publicized.

So Dai Tu would naturally not be able to find it if he looked for it alone.

He could only return empty-handed, hoping that Dai Ling thought he had really recognized the wrong person.

……

While people were celebrating here in Zhanghe, the atmosphere in Songjiaopo, Huaizhou, was extremely solemn.

The day of the scheduled battle finally arrived.

In the early morning, there was a rare heavy fog in Songjiaopo.

Such thick fog greatly shortened the visible distance.

On Chen Jun's side, the three armies slowly approached Songjia Slope. Xia Zhining looked at the thick fog rising from Songjia Slope and said, "It's September, the temperature is so high, the surroundings are flat, and the view is wide, how could there be fog?"

It’s not that there won’t be fog in summer, but it requires certain conditions to be met, such as in the deep mountains.

But Song Jiapo was obviously not satisfied with this, which violated Xia Zhining's common sense.

At this moment, Sun Meng hurried forward and said, "My Lord, the spies reported that the enemy is coming."

"what?"

Zhao Liang, Liu Ji and others behind Chen Mo all looked unhappy.

Xiao Jing pricked up his ears: "Listen, there is a sound."

"It's the sound of a horn." Wu Yanqing said in surprise.

"There are still the sounds of horse hooves. Oh no, the enemy is going to charge us while we are not prepared." Chen Mo quickly ordered, "Pass my order, stop and quickly form a battle formation."

"Yes." Sun Meng hurried to pass the order.

"Xia Zhining." Chen Mo said.

"I am here." Xia Zhining, who was wearing light armor and looked dashing, stepped forward and responded.

"Tell the Suzaku Guards to get ready and follow my orders."

"promise."

…On the other side, the coalition forces of King Chong and Lu Sheng, Gongsun Yan, Liang Xuan, Luo Qingyang, Hui Cheng and others were dressed in armor and sat on tall horses. Beside them, several middle-grade warriors were releasing the innate spiritual energy in their bodies.

If you observe carefully, you will find that the thick fog in Songjiaopo was artificially created by them.

These middle-grade warriors are all from the Liang family. The innate spiritual energy they absorbed when they broke through to become middle-grade warriors is all the earth fog energy.

They did this to prevent Chen Jun's "strange thunder" and Chen Mo's superb shooting.

They didn't know what the mechanism of the "strange mine" was. They only knew that it was powerful and loud, and they thought it also needed to be aimed and fired, so they hoped that the thick fog would make Chen Jun's strange mine lose its direction.

Of course, Gongsun Yan and others knew that there was little hope for this, as the "strange thunder" was very powerful and could be fired blindly.

They were relying more on the thick fog to allow the coalition forces to quickly approach Chen's army. As long as the two armies were close, Chen's army's "strange thunder" would not have much use.

Finally, they knew that Chen Mo was an excellent archer and that many generals of the Jinxia barbarians had died from Chen Mo's arrows, so they hoped that the thick fog could cause some interference.

"Woo."

The desolate sound of trumpets and drums is getting closer.

Chen Mo sat on the Snow Dragon Steed and could even see the black shadow of the horse running in the thick fog.

Just at this moment, a strong north wind blew over, and the thick fog in front of Chen Jun was blown away a little, like a huge white veil being rolled up.

Groups of Allied cavalry suddenly appeared in front of Chen's army. They waved their swords and guns and rushed towards Chen's army with their fangs and claws bared.

Zhao Liang scolded them for having no martial ethics.

Since it was a challenge, the other party accepted the challenge.

Then according to the old tradition, the two armies would wait until they had arranged their battle formations at Songjiapo, and then exchange a few meaningless words before the battle began.

But they had just arrived when the coalition forces rushed over. This is a violation of martial ethics.

Fortunately, the Chen army was not a mob. They had scouts leading the way before they arrived, so they were prepared in advance.

At this time, the Chen army's battle formation had already been deployed, with the sword and shield soldiers in the front and the spear soldiers in the back. The spears were placed on the shields with the tips facing forward.

After the spearmen, there are archers and crossbowmen.

And ten red cannons lined up in a row behind them.

There were indeed only nine gates when they went north, but during this period, the Suzaku Guards built six more gates.

The barrels of the ten red cannons were pointed upward at a sixty-degree angle.

The gunner stared at the thick fog in front of him with a serious expression. Although the fog was blown away a little, it soon gathered again. Moreover, they were in a backward position and could not see the rushing Allied cavalry, but could only hear the sound.

Suddenly, there was a commotion ahead.

Chen Mo's military order was passed on from one person to another and soon reached the Suzaku Guards.

Xia Zhining, who was standing in front of the Suzaku Guard, waved the flaming red flag in her hand fiercely and shouted, "Fire."

The moment they heard the order, the gunners started to operate without any hesitation, as if they had practiced it thousands of times.

At this moment, the soldiers next to him also covered their ears and opened their mouths wide.

"Boom boom boom"

Ten loud bangs sounded almost at the same time, and ten fire snakes with a trail of black smoke cut through the sky and headed towards the oncoming Allied cavalry.

The Huaizhou's Xianzhen Guards, not the northern Xianzhen Guards, were the first time they heard this loud noise.

Under their shocked gazes, the black shadow that emerged from the thick fog suddenly fell to its side, with people and horses falling to the ground, blood and flesh flying everywhere, and wailing sounds continuing.

Several holes were blasted on the ground.

This group of coalition cavalry, which did not include Prince Huai's men, was seeing such a situation for the first time. Some of them were frightened, and those who were still alive all had expressions of horror, their eyes full of fear of the unknown.

The war horses were frightened and ran away in all directions.

But most of them still rushed forward.

"Boom boom boom"

Just then, the second round of artillery shells arrived.

The shrapnel shells landed in the crowd and exploded on the spot, with smoke and dust billowing. No matter whether it was the cavalrymen in armor or the war horses, anyone hit by the shrapnel shells was turned into a bloody mess on the spot.

Those who did not die on the spot suffered the greatest pain, rolling on the ground and wailing in pain, and could clearly feel their lives slipping away from them bit by bit.

This style of fighting by the coalition forces is still somewhat effective.

At the speed of cavalry, when the Suzaku Guards were changing ammunition and preparing for the third round of bombing.

The remaining Allied cavalry had already rushed to the front of Chen’s army.

Looking at the Chen army that was ready for battle, and the spear tips on the shields shining with cold light, the cavalrymen on the war horses subconsciously squeezed their legs against the horses' bellies and lifted the reins, trying to make the horses cross the Chen army's shield formation.

However, Chen Jun's spearmen had not yet taken action.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

The archer behind him immediately released the bowstring.

The warhorse was shot into a hedgehog the moment it leaped up.

They were not armored cavalry. Only the cavalrymen were wearing armor, but the horses were not.

After the war horses fell to the ground, the allied cavalrymen also fell to the ground one by one.

Just as they were about to get up.

Chen Jun's spear moved.

Countless spears pierced out from behind the shields, broke through the armor, and stabbed into their flesh, causing blood to flow out.

The cavalrymen of the coalition forces grasped their spear blades, blood flowing from the corners of their mouths, and stared with wide eyes at the spears piercing their bodies.

As their vitality faded, their hands gripping the gun blades also fell off powerlessly.

Then, the spears were pulled out from their bodies, leaving streaks of blood.

But their mission was accomplished.

"Kill, rush."

"Boom boom boom"

A large number of Allied infantry rushed towards Chen's army, facing the artillery fire of Chen's army.

"Beat the drum." Chen Mo shouted.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

In the center of the army, dozens of war drums were beaten by the personal soldiers wearing Ming Guang armor, and the passionate drum sounds spread to every corner of Chen’s army formation.

The meaning of this drum sound is to meet the enemy.

Chen Jun's sword and shield soldiers gave up the middle position. The archers in the rear fired a burst of arrows first, then quickly retreated to reload arrows and crossbows. The spearmen took over and stepped forward to support the formation.

If the spear was accidentally knocked down by the enemy, the spearman would not pick up the spear first, but would take out the crossbow hanging from his waist, raise it and shoot without aiming.

After dealing with the enemy in front of him, the spearman did not reload arrows into the crossbow, but quickly picked up the spear.

If the enemy takes the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

The sword and shield soldiers quickly filled the position, charged forward with shields, and slashed wildly with swords.

At this time, the spearmen picked up the spears on the ground and started a new round of fighting.

(End of this chapter)