Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 398: Thousand Miles of Pursuit (Special thanks to book friends 20219411/20177543 monthly tickets)

The "Battle of Afu City" lasted only more than two hours, and more than 30,000 people of the Khitan Imperial Guards and the Chiwu Army led by Li Jiqian under the city had been killed in the battle, most of them died under the divine arm bows of the three thousand Longxiang Guards.

Although Li Jiqian was filled with resentment, he knew that due to the strong defense of Afu City, his own advantage of large numbers of troops could not be brought into play, and instead they became a sitting duck for the Dragon Guards' divine arm bow.

Seeing that the sun was beginning to set, Li Jiqian finally did not dare to set up camp here. The Great Zhou Longxiang Guards had many means of night attack. If things went wrong, the demoralized Khitan Imperial Guards and Chiwu Army under his command might be completely wiped out here.

By the afternoon, seeing that there was no hope of breaking the deadlock, Li Jiqian immediately ordered the entire army to withdraw and form a "V-shaped formation" to prevent pursuit by Zhang Yong and other enemy troops.

They didn't even dare to risk the arrows of the Longxiang Army to collect the tens of thousands of soldiers' bodies left under the city wall.

The high-spirited coalition forces of Da Zhou and Afu on the city wall cheered loudly when they saw the enemy troops withdrawing.

Yan Lie said happily:

"Today I have witnessed the unrivaled combat power of the Great Zhou Empire! Commander Zhang and the other Dragon Guards' magical skills!

No wonder His Majesty the Emperor was able to unify the country, conquer the east and the west, and establish such a vast territory in just 30 years.

Commander Zhang, Li Jiqian has already led his troops to flee. Should our coalition army leave the city and pursue him?"

Li Qingshan said excitedly:

"In today's battle, thanks to the bravery of Commander Zhang and other Dragon Guards, our coalition army won a complete victory! Let's see who dares to look down on our Black Hair Tribe in the future in the territory of Khitan!

Zhang Yongdao:
"Li Jiqian is good at military tactics.

You see, he retreated without disorder, because he deployed the "V-shaped formation". If this formation encounters an enemy pursuit, the cavalry units on both wings will attack the pursuers together.

Without the advantage of horse speed and bow and arrow range, once you chase the enemy, you will be surrounded by the enemy.

Chief Yan and Chief Li led their tribesmen to defend the city. After the enemy had gone away, they went down the city to clean up the battlefield and collect the spoils.

The task of hunting down the traitor Li Jiqian of our Great Zhou is naturally for this commander to lead the Dragon Guards!"

Yan Lie and Li Qingshan both bowed respectfully and said:
"I will follow Commander Zhang's orders!"

Zhang Yong strode down from the city wall, led three thousand Longxiang Guards riding on "blood horses", rushed out of the open city gate, and pursued Li Jiqian's army.

The Longxiang Guards had both "blood-sweating horses" and the Shenbi bow with a range of one mile. Once they chased within a mile, it would be a unilateral massacre of Li Jiqian's army.

The Khitan royal court and the Chiwu army on both wings of the "V-shaped Formation" tried many times to rush up and surround the Longxiang Guards, which numbered only 3,000, but were avoided by Zhang Yong and others on horseback.

After the enemy caught up with the main force, Zhang Yong and others rode forward, got close to the enemy, and shot them with the Shenbi bow, almost hitting the target every time.

Li Jiqian and other Khitan soldiers were furious and terrified at the same time:

If this continued, they would become lambs to be slaughtered, and collapse would only be a matter of time. However, in the current situation, Li Jiqian had no choice but to urge his soldiers to march as quickly as possible, hoping to get closer to Wang Tingya Qingshan as soon as possible and get rescued by the imperial guards sent by King Sol.

The two sides chased and fled, and after six days of marching on the prairie towards the Khitan King Tingya Qingshan, Zhang Yong and other Longxiang Guards had successively killed more than 20,000 Khitan soldiers. Li Jiqian could no longer control the scattering and fleeing of his soldiers, and the number of soldiers who could be maintained in the army was less than 70,000. Zhang Yong saw that he was close to the Khitan King Tingya Qingshan, and his scouts reported that the Khitan King Sol had sent 200,000 imperial troops from the north to help. So on May 23, the 30th year of Kaixi, he led his 3,000 Longxiang Guards back to the Afu tribe.

When they arrived at the Afu River on June 2, Zhang Yong and other Longxiang Guards were warmly welcomed by the people of the Afu and Jianhe tribes.

After being welcomed into the fortress and seated at the sumptuous banquet that had been prepared in the chief's tent, Li Qingshan said:

"Commander Zhang defeated Li Jiqian's army of 130,000 in this battle. His 3,000 Dragon Guards pursued the enemy for a thousand miles, killing more than 20,000 enemies, yet he himself did not lose a single soldier!
After this battle, the reputation of the Great Zhou Dragon Guard spread throughout the states of Khitan!"

Yan Lie smiled flatteringly:

"From the extraordinary talent of Commander Zhang, we can see that His Majesty the Emperor is an eternal saint!
The Great Zhou Empire is so powerful, and we, the black-haired tribes of the Khitans, are all descendants of the Han general Li Ling. We all hope that Your Majesty will lead the army to conquer Khitans as soon as possible and make it our territory, so that we, the descendants of the Chinese who are stranded abroad, can bathe in Your Majesty's grace!"

Zhang Yong nodded and said with a smile:
"The two leaders admire Your Majesty and want to return to our Great Zhou. When I return to the capital, I will report this to Your Majesty.

The war between our Great Zhou and the Star Sect countries in Central and West Asia is currently at a critical stage. It is not the best time for our Great Zhou to take over the Khitans.

Your Majesty ordered me to lead the Dragon Guards to come here to prevent the Khitan from falling into the hands of the traitor Li Jiqian, to prevent the two countries from going to war and affecting your Majesty's overall strategic situation, and to prevent the people on the border of the two countries from suffering from the devastation of war. "

Zhang Yong paused and said:
"Captain Yan, after your country's Western King learned about the "Battle of Afu City", he should have the confidence to persuade King Thor, right?"

Yan Lieshan said quickly:

"Commander Zhang, rest assured! With such a miraculous victory, even if the King of the West is usually timid and fearful, with the strong backing of the Great Zhou Empire, he will dare to make suggestions to the King!
Li Jiqian has suffered such a disastrous defeat, and he must have lost the favor of King Sol! How can he still listen to him in everything? "

The banquet lasted until late at night before it ended.

When Zhang Yong walked into his bedroom, he saw five beautiful girls waiting for him. When he asked, he found out that they were the girls sent by Yan Lie to sleep with him.

The three thousand Dragon Guards, the Afu tribe and the Jianhe tribe also selected five hundred girls and set up hundreds of tents in the city to comfort the soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty during the long night...

While Zhang Yong was still hesitating, five girls took off their silk clothes, surrounded him naked, respectfully removed his robes, and then began to serve him attentively...

After being picked up by the imperial guards sent by Saul, Li Jiqian escaped the disaster and returned to the royal court in Yaqingshan on May 27. He immediately went to the palace to report his journey to King Saul.

After hearing this, Thor was furious and scolded:

"Li Jiqian! You made such big promises to me before I left, saying that we had 100,000 imperial guards and would be able to wipe out the Afu tribe and the infiltrated Zhou Shang.

Now with the addition of the Chiwu tribe, an army of 130,000 has been defeated! You still have the nerve to come and see me! ? "

Li Jiqian was furious in his heart, but his face showed a respectful expression. He said:
“Reporting to Your Highness, the Zhou Shang who infiltrated our Khitan territory this time are actually the 3,000 elite troops led by Zhang Yong, the commander of the Dragon Guard!

This man is extremely powerful and wise. Before I led my army to clear him out, he had already united hundreds of thousands of people from the Afu and Jianhe tribes to build solid city defense measures.

The Great Zhou Divine Arm Bow cannot be restrained without plate armor, so the army under my command suffered a great loss this time because they were caught off guard!"

(End of this chapter)