Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 57 Stabilizing Deng Qiang
  Huan Xi's attempt to capture Guanlong was Sima Zhao's intention, and everyone knew it.

Before sending troops, he contacted the nobles of Xinping, Beidi, and Anding counties and informed them that Later Zhao was in turmoil, Shi Zun was killed, and Later Zhao was unable to send troops to regain Guanzhong.

However, Xinping and Beidi counties each had a population of only 2,000 households, so how could they have the strength to resist the Jin army? Huan Yi led 3,000 soldiers and had just crossed the Wei River when the governor of Beidi County sent an envoy to surrender.

Governor Huan Xi marched westward with 20,000 infantry, and the prefect of Xinping County also brought sheep to surrender so that Huan Xi could have a good meal.

Only Anding County is still holding on.

The guard general Anding was none other than Deng Qiang, the Sima of Liu Ning, general Anxi of Later Zhao Dynasty.

Liu Ning had already led his troops to leave Guanzhong after the Gaoli Rebellion, joined the League of Licheng, and respected Shi Zun as the leader. Now he is serving under Shi Min.

Although Anding has more registered residences than Beidi and Xinping counties, it is still not abundant.

After Liu Ning took away the main force, even if Deng Qiang abandoned the counties and gathered troops to defend the county and city, there were only less than a thousand people under his command.

Deng Xia led the vanguard of the Jin army to march to the foot of Anding City first. Seeing this, the local scholars walked up to the tower to look for Deng Qiang:
  "Deng Sima, we are from Jin, why should we sacrifice our lives for Jiehu?

"The Jin army is coming in force, but Wang Zhuo refuses to send troops to rescue. Our army is small and we can resist the Jin army alone, just like a mantis using its arm as a chariot.

"Now that the Hulu's fortunes have declined and the Jin Dynasty is about to rise, it is better to obey the fate of heaven and the favor of humanity."

Deng Qiang had previously sent people to Qinzhou to ask for help, but for some reason, Qinzhou's guard Wang Zhuo turned a deaf ear to this, as if he had no idea about the meaning of death.

Deng Qiang neither agreed nor refused the request of the local scholars. He just quietly watched the Jin army vanguard outside the city.

After a long time, Deng Qiang said in a deep voice:

"Take my armor and mount, and I will go out of the city to meet the enemy general."

Not long after, the Anding city gate was opened, and Deng Qiang, riding a white horse, left the city alone, came to the Jin army's formation, and shouted:
  "I am Anping Deng Qiang. Whoever dares to go out will fight me to the death."

Deng Xia was already famous for his bravery. He had followed Huan Xi to quell the Yizhou rebellion. He was between the two armies and killed the enemy generals to gain the upper hand.

Unexpectedly, nowadays, the world has changed, and there are still people who dare to challenge Deng Xia in front of him, without even bringing his servants with him.

Deng Xia felt itchy and was about to rush forward. He came all the way from Tongguan, but Du Zhou, who was participating in the Western Expedition, volunteered and said:

"There is no use of a bull's-eye to kill a chicken. The general is a vanguard general. How can he easily fight against such an unknown person? Please allow the general to go and kill this person for the general."

Deng Xia thought for a moment and felt that Du Zhou's words were reasonable. He nodded and said:

"Deng is here waiting for good news."

Du Zhou was overjoyed and went out into battle alone without any cavalry or followers.

Deng Qiang shouted and asked:
  "Who is coming!"

His voice was like thunder, but Du Zhou was not afraid at all and replied:

"Let you clearly understand that I am Jingzhao Duzhou!"

After saying that, the two rode their horses to fight, and the battle was not long. Deng Qiang slapped Du Zhou's weapon away, and the tip of the spear pierced Du Zhou's throat.

Du Zhou was shocked, unable to dodge, and thought he was going to die. The moment the horse stabbed him, Du Zhou closed his eyes, and regret surged in his heart. He should not have been brave if he had known he would end up like this.

However, Deng Qiang never stabbed the tip of his tree.

Du Zhou opened his eyes and said doubtfully:

"What do you mean!"

Deng Qiang put away his long spear and said lightly:

"You are not my opponent. I will not kill you. I will let Deng Xia fight."

It had long been heard that Deng Xia was the champion of the three armies, and fighting him was Deng Qiang's purpose in this battle.

Du Zhou dismounted and picked up his weapon. Although he was full of shame, he still handed over to Deng Qiang, thanked him for not killing him, and then bravely returned to the main formation.

At this time, Huan Xi was not far away from Anding City. Hearing that a white-horse general in the city came out to challenge him, Huan Xi laughed:

"White Horse? He will never come back!"

Huan Xi did not have this confidence out of thin air. His pioneer general Deng Xia was known as the most powerful general in the Eastern Jin Dynasty in later generations and was one of the prototypes of Erlang Shen. With Deng Xia in charge of the front army, Huan Xi was eager to fight with others to determine the outcome.

When Du Zhou returned to the army, under the gaze of everyone, he was so ashamed that he almost wanted to die. Fortunately, Deng Xia did not blame him in words. He just wanted to come to his own horse stall and get out of the crowd.

Deng Qiang asked loudly:

"Is the person here Deng Xia?"

"Exactly!"

After confirming their identities, the two of them stopped talking and immediately fought each other. However, they fought evenly and could not tell the winner for a long time.

When the Jin generals in the rear saw this, they wanted to go out to help in the battle. Deng Xia saw it from the corner of his eye and blocked Deng Qiang's horse and shouted angrily:
  "Whoever dares to come forward will be killed by me!"

The generals stopped, and even those who tried to hurt people with hidden arrows put away their bows and arrows, lest Deng Xia would be blamed later.

When Deng Xia stopped everyone, Deng Qiang did not continue the offensive. He smiled and said:
  "The general is really aboveboard."

Deng Xia hummed:

"I would rather die than do this villain thing. Besides, do you think you can really beat me!"

After that, he straightened up his arms and fought with Deng Qiang.

The more they fought, the braver they became, but the mounts under their crotches were already exhausted.

The two crossed paths again, separated for more than ten steps, turned their horses' heads, but did not fight again, but just stared at each other quietly, feeling mutual sympathy.

Deng Xia shouted:

"I heard you announce your name before. Could it be that you are from the Anding Deng family?"

Deng Qiang nodded and said:
  "Not bad!"

Hearing this, Deng Xia was greatly puzzled:
  "You are not a barbarian, and you have such abilities, why don't you join my lord and help him regain the Central Plains!"

Deng Qiang laughed loudly and said:

"I have had this intention for a long time, but I hate that no one recommends me."

It turned out that Deng Qiang had already considered surrendering to Huan Xi without waiting for reinforcements from Qinzhou.

But if he surrendered directly to the city, it would be difficult to attract Huan Xi's attention, and he would treat him like ordinary surrendered generals, being idle and abandoned.

This was what Deng Qiang did not want to see. He boasted that he could be defeated by thousands of people. Out of his absolute confidence in his own bravery, he decided to go out of the city to fight with the Jin army.

If you don't bring any cavalry, you are worried that at a critical moment, some cavalry will get involved and kill people by mistake.

Therefore, even if Du Zhou was defeated, Deng Qiang did not kill him, but let Du Zhou go.

Deng Xia understood Deng Qiang's thoughts and smiled:

"If you can defeat me, I will introduce you to the Lord."

Deng Qiang saw Deng Xia's fighting spirit and wanted to compete with him. However, the white horse under his crotch had no power left. He asked:
  "Can I go back to the city to change my horse?"

Deng Xia waved his hand and said:
  "Why go to all this trouble? Deng's mount is also unbearable. I'll ask someone to fetch a horse for you."

"So good!"

Deng Qiang smiled.

The two of them dismounted in unison, and Deng Xia shouted to the Jin army, asking them to prepare two good horses.

As a result, whether it was the Zhao army on the city wall or the Jin army outside the city, they all saw an incredible scene.

The two people who were still fighting at first were now standing side by side, chatting and laughing, waiting for someone to come from behind to send horses.

　One more chapter.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)