Horse on the World

Chapter 544 The Sound of Battle Drums
In the Minzhou army camp, the [-] Minzhou army is ready to go, plus the [-] capital guards brought by Qu Yongjie, the entire Minzhou army camp is steaming and extremely busy. The soldiers quickly sent orders to the battalions one after another.

The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and at this time of year, sending troops is not the best choice. The soldiers' minds have already flown to the annual Spring Festival. At this time of war, the soldiers are not without complaints.Qu Yongjie is a man who leads old soldiers. How could he not know this truth? Before the soldiers moved, his reward silver had already been paid out first. Each soldier received ten taels of white money. There is not much silver in the house, and it is only ten taels of silver.Before the fight, he has already earned a year's worth of silver and came back. After this battle, how can the reward be less than this amount?Moreover, during the war, the soldiers had a lot of opportunities to earn extra money. If they were locked in the barracks on weekdays, how could they have a chance to make a fortune?
The mood of looking forward to the festival is immediately dazzled by the money. If you can earn back a few years of money in a short period of time, is there any reason not to do it?The soldiers immediately screamed excitedly, and their morale was instantly stimulated to the peak.

"General Zhang!" Qu Yongjie sat on the upper seat, and Minzhou General Zhang Aishou accompanied him respectfully.

"The end is here!"

"This time, His Majesty dispatched an army of tens of thousands to attack Yizhou. It is determined to win. I also left the [-] palace guards to you. After entering Quanzhou, feign a shot and attack Yizhou with all your strength. In Yizhou Before he could react, he was deeply wedged into the depths of Yizhou and divided Yizhou. After Li Qing won the Golden State, his disobedience became more and more obvious. This section of the whole state is extremely empty of troops. This time Princess Qingcheng controlled the overall situation of Dingzhou, and the Dingzhou army suddenly withdrew, completely exposing Li's flanks. Li must be in a hurry. An Guogong calmly arranges, our battle will be difficult." Qu Yongjie said.

Zhang Aimin said with a smile: "General Qu looks too much at old man Li. No matter how powerful he is, he is almost seventy, how can he be so powerful? This time His Majesty mobilized an army of tens of thousands to raid Yizhou. The day is over!"

Qu Yongjie took a deep look at him, and said coldly: "When Mr. An was all-powerful, you were still a leading soldier. How have you ever seen his splendor? How many of our generals in Dachu are not as good as Anguo? Has he served under his command and obeyed his orders? If it is upright and face-to-face, even if I lead an army of 10 against his Yizhou army with only 3, I dare not say that I will win. General Zhang, I am very sorry for your mentality. Worry, this is a major military matter, you should walk on thin ice, be careful every step of the way, if there is one out of ten people, ten people will win, and if [-] people are against [-] people, it doesn’t mean that the number of people will win.”

Seeing Qu Yongjie's sudden anger, Zhang Aimin was startled, "Yes, I know I was wrong!"

Seeing Zhang Aimin admitting his mistake, Qu Yongjie felt a little more comfortable. Even if he had to face An Guogong now, in his heart, he still respected the pillar of the Great Chu back then. However, he would not allow anyone to humiliate An Guogong.

"Yizhou's heavy troops are gathered on the front line of Qinzhou. Your head is very empty. Your majesty places a heavy trust on your shoulders. I hope you will not fail your majesty's expectations. I will go to Qinzhou to command Qinzhou and Xingzhou to fight frontally. You If this side fights well, my side will be much more relaxed. Only by letting Mr. An take care of one thing and lose another, can we win the game with confidence. This battle requires a quick victory. If there is a stalemate, we will lose. You know , We still have several worries in our hearts!"

"Yes, General Qu, the last general will definitely do his best to live up to His Majesty's entrustment!" Zhang Aimin said sonorously.

In Qinzhou, Zhou Tong has just returned from inspecting several areas adjacent to Yizhou. In fact, since Li Qing raised his troops to occupy Jinzhou, he has already made clear Li's ambition to conquer the world, and Qinzhou began to deploy heavy troops on the border. Of the [-] soldiers and horses in Qinzhou, more than [-] people gathered in Changling County and Chengde County, which are adjacent to Yizhou, which made the situation in this area suddenly tense, and the two counties directly became military management areas. , A large number of civil servants were recruited, the city walls were heightened and thickened, and fortresses were built.

On the opposite side of them, the general who was facing off in Yizhou was the famous Marquis of Weiyuan, now the father of Marquis of Zhenxi, Li Muzhi. Li Muzhi rode out of the city by himself in Weiyuan Fortress, fighting against the barbarians. Picking out seven barbarian generals with an iron spear, his prestige spread far and wide. As a new general, Zhou Tong did not dare to be negligent. He stayed in these two places for more than half of the time. , always on guard.

Today Zhou Tong was summoned to return, and the messenger said that Qu Yongjie, the commander of the army this time, had arrived in Qinzhou, and the Xingzhou soldiers had also started to assemble one after another.Back in Qinzhou, although the pommel horse was tired, Zhou Tong didn't care about the mud and sour smell all over his body, and hurriedly came to see Qu Yongjie. During this period of time between Changling and Chengde, he had already noticed that the troops on the opposite side had begun to fight frequently. Mobilization, there is only one thing in this situation, that is, the war is about to start.

"Greetings to the General!" Zhou Tong stepped into the hall and froze before he could finish his sentence. There were not only Qu Yongjie, but also Emperor Tianqi inside. God, his head was sweating all of a sudden.

He only met Tianqi once, and that was after defeating Xiao Yuanshan, Tianqi personally received him and appointed him General Qinzhou. Unexpectedly, His Majesty the Emperor also came to Qinzhou in person today. It seems that His Majesty is quite satisfied with this battle. Pay attention, but I am disheveled and smelly all over. General Qu Yongjie was originally an old acquaintance, an old boss, and a soldier, so he didn't care much about these things, but His Majesty is a person who ranks above the ninth level, so I seem too disrespectful up.

"Your Majesty, I don't know His Majesty is coming, please forgive me!" Zhou Tongpu fell on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.

Tian Qi sat at the top, looking at Zhou Tong, who was a little haggard with mud on his body, but there was an expression of appreciation in his eyes. Such a person is a person who does things. Zhou Tong is highly valued by Qu Yongjie under his command, not only because Like Qu Yongjie, he came from a poor family. What's even more rare is that this man is prudent in military affairs, but he is not hesitating to risk his life and family when he takes risks, and he is willing to fight to the death. Unexpectedly, he didn't suffer any disadvantages, and he was able to steadily share the same position with the opponent, which is a rare general. After all, there are not many people like Li Muzhi in Weiyuan Hou in the whole Chu.

"General Zhou, please rise up. General Zhou is diligent in state affairs and spares no effort. I am very relieved. How can I blame you!" Tian Qi even stood up and walked in front of Zhou Tong, helping the young general with his own hands.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" Zhou Tong burst into tears with excitement, "The final general came from humble beginnings, and is valued by His Majesty. The grace of heaven is great, and I don't know how to repay it. I am willing to go through fire and water for Your Majesty, and to shed the last drop of blood for Great Chu! "

Tian Qi nodded slightly, "General's heart, I know that the country's affairs are difficult, and it is precisely because of General Qu and your talents like General Zhou Tong that it is not out of control!"

Zhou Tong choked up and said: "General Qu, the pillar of the country, how dare General Qu stand shoulder to shoulder with General Qu, and never dare to be praised by His Majesty."

Tian Qi laughed, returned to his seat and sat down, "You came back from the front line, can you see any movement on the other side?"

"Your Majesty, the last general is just about to report this matter to General Qu. The Yizhou army is mobilizing frequently in the Changling and Chengde areas. It seems that a large number of troops have left this line. The last general is suspicious of fraud and dare not act rashly."

Tian Qi and Qu Yongjie looked at each other and nodded. It seems that the sudden withdrawal of the Dingzhou Army from Jinzhou has already begun to affect Yizhou. Is there still time?Zhang Aimin's Minzhou army should have entered Jinzhou at this moment, and is preparing to launch a surprise attack on Yizhou, right?
"Your Majesty, please send troops to Yizhou immediately, use all the soldiers from Qinzhou and Xingzhou, and press into Yizhou with the force of Mount Tai, forcing the other side to fail to deploy troops to the west, and reward General Zhang Aimin for his actions in Jinzhou Maximum support."

Tian Qi nodded, "The time has come, Zhou Tong!"

"The end is here!" Zhou Tong replied loudly.

"I ordered you to be the vanguard general, and immediately lead the Qinzhou army to launch an attack on Yizhou. I will come to the front line in person, and when you launch the attack, I will personally beat the first drum for you!"

Zhou Tong was taken aback, glanced at Qu Yongjie, saw him shake his head slightly, and immediately mustered up his courage and said: "Your Majesty, it is the duty of a minister to fight for His Majesty, but the general will hear that a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall." , The frontline soldiers are fierce and dangerous, Your Majesty is in the mountains and rivers of Chu, and you must not come to the front line in person. Your Majesty only needs to sit in Qinzhou and wait for the victory of the last general!"

Tian Qi laughed and said: "You kid, you have the same accent as Qu Yongjie, but I must beat the first battle drum. This is the first step towards the revival of our Great Chu. After beating the war drum, I'll go back, how about it?"

Zhou Tong hesitated for a moment. In fact, Tian Qi’s identity was very embarrassing. Luoyang had Emperor Zhaoqing. Although everyone knew that he was just a puppet sitting on the throne, no one could poke the window paper. Soldiers and ordinary people, Emperor Tianqi had already returned to the west of Hexi long ago. At that time, Tianqi's identity was unclear. He went to the battlefield to beat the drums. How could he explain it to the soldiers? I couldn't help but trembled in my heart. Could it be that His Majesty is planning to abdicate the little Emperor Zhaoqing and sit on it again by himself?
Marquis of Weiyuan Li Muzhi took his youngest son Li Feng to stand on a high mountain peak. Standing here, the barracks of Zhou Tong on the opposite side could be seen at a glance, "Do you see anything?" What does it mean to ask Li Feng.

Li Feng held the horsewhip in one hand and tapped his palm lightly, "Father, although the opponent is trying to hide it, it can still be seen from the clues that the opponent's strength has suddenly increased on a large scale. The number of banners has not increased, and the camp has not increased. But there are too many, their cover-up work is not in place, the semaphore and the sound of horns to convey orders have obviously increased in the past few days, it seems that Xingzhou soldiers have also come!"

"Not bad, not bad!" Li Muzhi said happily: "If you can make a correct judgment from these, it seems that you have indeed improved."

"Father, I have grown up!" Li Feng said enthusiastically. "These clowns also want to offend my Li Shihuwei, hehe, when the fight starts, I will show them Li's iron cavalry!" With the strong support of Dingzhou in the past few years, the number of cavalry led by Li Feng has expanded to 1 Although it cannot compete with the main cavalry of Dingzhou, such as Changsheng Battalion and Xuanfeng Battalion, it is an out-and-out strong army among the cavalry troops in the Central Plains.

"This battle is not easy to fight!" Li Muzhi sighed, "The opponent's soldiers are far more numerous than mine, and we have to delay as much as possible, even if we can win, and we have to push them to the wings step by step. Citation within the state, damn it, I have never fought this kind of battle in my life. Li Qing, a bastard, wants me to lose the battle, and it must be a defeat without showing any traces. I don't understand if the other party enters Yizhou , I don’t know how many people will suffer!”

Li Feng glanced sideways at his father, "Father, there is no way to do it. In Dingzhou, my elder brother sacrificed the people of two counties in order to lure and annihilate the elite cavalry of the Blue Department and the Zhenghong Cavalry, but after that battle , the blue and red teams were almost crippled, and sometimes they had to pay a huge price in order to win."

"Are you listening to your elder brother more and more?" Li Muzhi snorted.

Li Feng smiled slightly, knowing that there was still an unresolved relationship between his father and his eldest brother, he couldn't help shrugging his shoulders. The relationship between himself and his eldest brother was already unraveled, but the two of them were still like this. I was wrong, what can you do to me?The other has a more stubborn temper, and now that he has a high position and authority, he doesn't take the initiative to communicate with his father, which makes the relationship between father and son grow. Whenever the two of them are together, Li Feng on one side feels uncomfortable.

"The war is going to start here first!" Li Muzhi said: "The other side wants to slow down the pace of our western aid and let the Jinzhou side break into the territory of Yizhou smoothly, hmph, but we didn't even think about going to the west. Aid, alright, let's have a good fight here, and then retreat to the core defensive circle, Li Feng, you lead [-] cavalry to go ahead!"

"Father, the battle is about to break out, how can I leave at this time?" Li Feng yelled.

Li Muzhi poked the other party's forehead, "You, you just praised your progress, why are you so stupid again, we are going to transfer troops to the west, who will be transferred faster, of course it is the cavalry under your command, if after the war, You are still here, what will the enemy think? Will they become suspicious? Don’t just think about fighting, don’t use your brain, look at your elder brother, he has conquered Nuo Da’s territory, how many battles did he personally fight? "

Li Feng smiled embarrassingly, "I really didn't think of this, but it's a pity that I couldn't start this first battle!"

Li Muzhi snorted, "This battle is still going to be fought! Is it going to end in a while?"

(End of this chapter)