Country color

Chapter 431 Closing
Dou Jiande pressed his sword and rode his horse to run wildly, the sound of shouts of killing behind him became farther and farther away, it turned out that they had broken out of the encirclement step by step.

After many years of military service, although he was in danger, Dou Jiande remained calm and calm, escaped several enemy troops and broke into a dense forest beside the road.

The dense forest is overlapping, and I just hid. After walking in the middle of the night, the sky is getting brighter now, and the wind and snow are much less.

Dou Jiande looked behind him, there were only a few cavalry, and all the soldiers were in a panic.

Song Zhengben, Ling Jing, and Zhang Xuansu lost all news and fell into the chaos of the army, not knowing whether they were alive or dead.

Seeing this scene, Dou Jiande suddenly raised his head and laughed.

General Cheng Mingzhen, who rescued Dou Jiande from the siege, asked: "Your Majesty, why are you laughing when our army is defeated?"

Dou Jiande looked around and said to Cheng Mingzhen: "I laughed at Li Chongjiu's wisdom and Xu Shiji's cowardice. Right now our soldiers are exhausted. If there is another way to intercept here, I, Dou Jiande, can only be captured without a fight."

Cheng Mingzhen clasped his hands and said, "Your Majesty is as blessed as the heavens, how could it be Li Chongjiu, Xu Shiji could have expected that."

Dou Jiande said proudly: "Although our army is defeated, as long as I, Dou Jiande, survive for a day, how can Li Chongjiu capture Hebei in a day. When I return to Leshou to regroup, it will not be too late to fight for the hegemony again in the future."

While Dou Jiande and Cheng Mingzheng were speaking, the horn suddenly sounded four times.

Although the sound of the horn was blown extremely gently, it sounded creepy to the ears of soldiers Xia.Last night, the Fanjun cavalry of the Youzhou Army blew such a horn and charged into the Xia Army's camp, invincible.

Sure enough, what Xia Jun was worried about became a reality, and Fanjun cavalry wrapped in animal skins came out from all sides of the forest.

A general drove his horse out from the middle, and the other party clasped his fists and said: "King Xia, I am the general Ying Hefu of Shidexi Department. I have been waiting here for a long time in the forest for the orders of Duke Gu and General Xu."

Dou Jiande's countenance changed upon hearing this.

The cavalrymen of the Linnei Fan Army raised their bows and aimed at Xia Jun who was in the forest.

Dou Jiande looked back to the left and right, but saw that the faces of the soldiers were all bleak. Even if the soldiers still had courage, their horses were exhausted, so there was no need to fight.

Dou Jiande was silent for a while, and said with a smile: "Mr. Shanggu, I'm really afraid of me, Dou, and I don't want to kill him, but I can't hurry up, haha."

Dou Jiande hid it by laughing, and said to Cheng Mingzhen next to him: "Mingzhen, if I don't break out of the encirclement, you can go to Leshou and tell Brother Heita, and he will be in charge of my old Xia army."

"Your Majesty!" Cheng Mingzhen said hastily.

Dou Jiande shook his head and said: "The enemy is going to kill me. With your martial arts skills, you will be able to break through the encirclement. The talent of Brother Heitai is ten times that of my Dou. Let him avenge my army in the future. Listen. Reached?"

"No, Your Majesty!" Cheng Mingzhen gritted his teeth and agreed.

Dou Jiande laughed, patted Cheng Mingzhen on the shoulder, and then pulled out a long knife from his waist. With a heroic spirit, he shouted: "Brothers, follow me to kill!"

As soon as the words fell, all arrows were fired in the jungle.

The wind and snow fell all night, and the wind stopped a little during the next day.

Li Chongjiu led the main army and came across the river from Yishui, and the battlefield he saw was a mess.

The field was dark and dense. It turned out that the captured soldiers of the Xia army were crouching in a field with their heads in their arms, and a row of soldiers from Youzhou stood with their guns.

After the defeat, the soldiers of the Xia army looked miserable. Under the staring eyes of the Youzhou soldiers, everyone dared to squat in the snow with their heads in their hands, motionless. Many people lost their shoes and lay barefoot on the snow. Shivering with cold.Many people were still wounded.

Li Chongjiu rode his horse to stop, and Xu Shiji, who presided over the battle, came to greet him.

Seeing Xu Shiji, Li Chongjiu asked in the first sentence: "Have you got Dou Jiande?"

Xu Shiji replied: "Last night Dou Jiande led a hundred cavalry to break out of the siege and fled towards Boling County. I ordered Yinghe Fu to lead [-] cavalry to pursue. I must have caught up."

Li Chongjiu nodded, Xu Shiji suddenly cupped his fists at Li Chongjiu, and said: "I will report to Duke Shanggu, and I will finally ask you for your sin."

"What's the matter?"

"General Yan Yelie of the Shiwei Department who attacked Liu Heita's camp behind the Palace of Xia was killed, and more than half of his soldiers were killed or injured. Now Liu Heita has gathered the rest of the Xia Army and retreated to the southeast."

"Yan Yelie was killed in battle!" Li Chongjiu's body trembled, remembering that this was the No.1 general killed in battle under him since he led the army.

Xu Shiji said: "Liu Heikai, the general of the rear army of the Xia Army, set up an ambush in the camp, causing heavy casualties to our army who attacked the rear army camp. Yan Yelie fought all night and suffered dozens of injuries. In the end, Liu Heitai His younger brother Liu Shishan was shot by an arrow and died in a fierce battle."

The scene of Yan Yelie's death in a fierce battle seemed to be still in front of his eyes. Li Chongjiu sighed as he watched the snowflakes falling from the sky with his hands behind his hands.

Li Chongjiu said: "Although our army attacked and defeated Dou Jiande at night, if this person is not eliminated, I can't feel at ease overnight. Among the Hebei army, such as Liu Heita, Cheng Mingzhen, Gao Yaxian, etc. are all heroes on one side, and a mere Liu Heita is like this. It's hard to deal with, let alone other people, given time, letting these people rule under Dou Jiande's command will eventually become a serious problem for me."

While Li Chongjiu was talking to Xu Shiji, suddenly a horse galloped over and said, "Report to Duke Shanggu, Yinghefu has captured Dou Jiande."

"Can you confirm?" Li Chongjiu remained calm on the face, but was ecstatic in his heart.

"Yes, this is the golden seal on Dou Jiande's body." The cavalry offered it to Li Chongjiu with both hands.

Li Chongjiu took the golden seal to have a look, on it was written the four characters of "ordered by the sky".

Li Chongjiu said with a smile: "It's a pity that Dou Jiande wants to be ordered by heaven to imitate the Jade Seal of Chuan Guo."

Xu Shiji said: "This must be Dou Jiande's belongings. Congratulations to Lord Shanggu, defeating Dou Jiande, we can use this to unify the power of Hebei."

Li Chongjiu smiled, looked at the vast expanse of Hebei, and nodded slightly.

Li Chongjiu said immediately: "If you pass on the order, don't be arrogant because of victory. Although Dou Jiande was captured, I want to sweep the land of Hebei, and the whole army will pursue Xia's army. You can't tolerate and raise thieves."

Xu Shiji readily agreed, and this was also his intention. Before Dou Jiande's life and death were unknown, he was going to ask Li Chongjiu to let the main force who had just crossed Yishui pursue the remnants of Xia's army.

Unexpectedly, Li Chongjiu was even more cautious, and Dou Jiande was also worried about being captured, so he still ordered the whole army to attack and sweep.

After that, Li Chongjiu ordered Wang Mahan, Xue Wanche, and Wang Junkuo to split up and pursue them.

October [-]th.

Wang Mahanba Boling County Beiping County.

October seventeenth.

Xue Wanshu led the Tunwei Army stationed in Hengshan County to attack and conquer Shenze County.

October [-]th.

Li Chongjiu led the main force in Boye to catch up with the Xia army general Cao Dan, and the Xia army was defeated. If there is no Gao Yaxian, Su Dingfang will respond, and Cao Dan's entire army will be wiped out.

In October, Yinghe Fusun and Erniang led the army to Lianke Boling County, Zhongxinle, Xianyu, Anping County, and the whole area of ​​Boling County was controlled by Youzhou Army.

In November, Li Chongjiu attacked Gaoyang again, and Xia Jun's general Liu Heita retreated here. He besieged the city for half a month, and suddenly it snowed heavily, and the dripping water turned into ice.

Under Liu Heikai's steadfast defense, Li Chongjiu's tens of thousands of troops attacked for half a month, but could not break through the city.

The news of the Battle of Hebei, like the heavy snow that suddenly fell on the north and south of the river, spread throughout the world in an instant.

The cold winter at the end of the year, the climate in Hebei this year is extremely cold.

The large and small rivers to the north of the Yellow River are all frozen solid, and as far as the eye can see, they are covered in silver.

A prison car, grunting and rolling over the snow-covered loess road, was heading north.

In the prison car, a refined man sat in Anzhi's usual manner, holding a book of Analects and reading it seriously.

The young soldier on guard couldn't help saying in admiration: "Sir, you are not afraid of the bumps on the road. Can you read a book on this dangling thing?"

The elegant man smiled slightly, and said to the soldiers beside him: "When I was an official, I used to worry about my fame and fame, and I couldn't understand it by reading. Now I'm in prison, and everything is gone. I have a good mood. If you are afraid There will not be time to study for a few days, so I won’t let go of the book.”

The young soldier didn't quite understand, and the officer in charge said, "He donkey, what do you know, this is a senior officer of the Xia army, and this time he will be escorted to Youzhou City, where he will be with his emperor." Beheaded at the same time, how many days are left to live? You can let him go."

The young soldier made an audible noise and said, "Really? Alas, what a pity."

The elegant man smiled and said: "No one dies. Sima Qian said that there is a difference between Mount Tai and a feather. In my heart, it is also a pleasure to die with integrity. Why should I say it is a pity."

The officer in charge sneered and said: "You are just asking for death, Mr. Zhang, who doesn't know that Mr. Shanggu is generous, if you are willing to speak a few words, why are you here today?"

The elegant man smiled and refused to argue, saying: "That's right, that's right, I'm too stubborn, thank you for your kindness, just let me go."

While talking, a group of people suddenly came on the road.

The guarded soldiers were all on alert, although this person was going to Youzhou to be executed, but if there was a mistake on the way, it was the responsibility of their team of more than 20 guards.

The officer heard that the other party seemed to be coming straight to the prison car, and immediately shouted that it was not good, and ordered the prison car to stop, while more than 20 soldiers in custody formed a ring around the prison car.

There were no more than five or six riders, and they stopped in front of the prison car.

Holding a horizontal knife in his hand, the officer in custody shouted: "There are serious criminals from the Governor's Mansion in the prison car, please get out of the way quickly, or you will be shot."

The leader of the other party smiled and said: "I'm just looking for a repeat offender, inside the prison car, but Zhang Xuansu, the servant of Xia Jun's Huangmen."

The officer's face changed, and the other party smiled and said: "Don't make a fuss, this is the border of Zhuo County, there are no gangsters."

After finishing speaking, this person showed the officer in custody a document with a seal on it.

The officer shouted anxiously: "It turns out that Ji is doing it, and the villain has eyes but doesn't know Mount Tai." He immediately ordered the soldiers under his command to withdraw.

The other party nodded, rode his horse to the front of the prison car, and said with a smile: "Zhang Huangmen, Ji Chuan is polite."

The elegant man sitting in the prison car said: "Ji is busy with things, and has come here from thousands of miles away, what is the important thing?"

(End of this chapter)