Great Han Empire

Chapter 202
Li Hong watched the enemy cavalry run away, and was furious.

Fast, too fast.

He didn't expect that nearly [-] enemies surrendered after a little resistance. They surrendered without forming a defensive formation or rushing to stop them.

Li Hong's plan was to cut off the enemy's front and center troops at the waist, then attack the front army and block the enemy's center army, so that the entire battlefield would be spread out.Once the battlefield spread out, the enemy's cavalry was blocked at the forefront, and they couldn't find a place to turn back.As long as his infantry resolutely cut off the enemy and block the enemy's breakthrough, Xu Rong can quickly organize some deserters to join the battlefield, and the besieged enemy may be completely wiped out.

However, the situation on the battlefield did not develop as Li Hong expected.

First of all, the enemy's central army is out of touch with the former army. Even now, the enemy's central army has not yet been seen.

Secondly, the enemy's front army suddenly gave up resistance because it was too tired and had no combat effectiveness. As a result, in order to encircle the enemy, the infantry had no choice but to throw the troops that were originally planning to block the enemy into the battlefield to encircle and suppress the enemy's front army.In addition, the enemy's surrender also caused the battlefield not to spread out in time, and there were dozens of steps on both sides of the road that were not filled by troops.

The third is the rapid withdrawal of the enemy's cavalry.This is also what Li Hong did not expect.He believed that the cavalry of the rebel army had to persist for a period of time in order to cover their former army to break through.Unexpectedly, the enemy's cavalry ignored their front army being surrounded and wiped out, turned around and fled.According to their escape speed, even if the infantry followed the original plan, it would be too late, and they had no time to form an formation.

Li Hongtu called out.

"Order the cavalry to chase after it until dark, to Juyuan, to Muyuan..."

"Order Xian Yufu, immediately lead the three armies of Yushi, Yan Liang, and Yan Rou, ride on horses, chase the rebels all the way, and take the prisoners."

"Hurry up……"

The ambush that was going to be a bloody bloody battle ended so hastily.

Looking at the chaotic battlefield, Li Hong couldn't help but think of Zhao Yun, Hu Ding, Abandoned Shen, and his two thousand black panthers.

Will the surprise attack tomorrow morning be so smooth?

===

Zhou Shen was lying on a stretcher, Xu Rong, Qu Yi, Sun Jian, and Hua Xiong surrounded him.

"We won." Zhou Shen said gratifiedly, "It's good to win."

Xu Rong and the others looked at each other, feeling unhappy.Although they won the battle, none of the four had any smiles on their faces.This battle was won by Li Hong's Jizhou troops. To put it bluntly, the credit belongs to others, and has nothing to do with the Northern Army or Xiliang troops.Those who should be demoted will be demoted, and those who should return to Beijing to accept the crime will still return to Beijing to accept the crime.

Qu Yi stomped his foot resentfully, and let out a long sigh.He is not convinced.

"Master Leopard is very lucky." Qu Yi looked at Zhou Shen and said, "There are 10,000+ rebels in Xiliang. Give him two battles and they will be eliminated."

Zhou Shen was slightly surprised, he was very suspicious of Qu Yi's statement, and turned his head to look at Sun Jian.

Sun Jian nodded and said, "Master Qu is right. Last month, Bianzhang's 1 rebels were attacked by General Dong in Luofengling, and about 1 people were lost. Last night, he attacked us in Juyuan, and again More than 2 people have been lost. Now, there are at least 4 captives here. Calculated in this way, the rebels have lost more than 4 people. Only [-] rebels are left. There is no way out for Huang He to escape to the Qiang land. That is to say, the suppression of the rebellion in Xiliang basically ended after Li Zhonglang's two battles."

Sun Jian looked at a few people and praised: "In the past, we thought that he defeated the Xianbei people because he was familiar with the terrain and took advantage of the geographical advantage; he defeated Zhang Niujiao's Yellow Turban Army because he got the weather and the help of the Jizhou army. The light of the weather and the harmony of people. Now it seems that he is indeed a soldier, although he is young, but..." He shook his head and sighed in admiration, "There is no comparison between us."

Xu Rong nodded vigorously, and said: "Li Zhonglang is not afraid of danger and uses his troops calmly. Under such circumstances, he can accurately judge the enemy's situation. It is amazing that 3 soldiers ambushed the enemy with 6 people. It is really amazing. Although, He was able to defeat the rebels and win easily, so he really had a lot of luck." Xu Rong looked at Qu Yi and said slowly, "But this luck was snatched from the rebels, not given to him by the old side. If it is us, who would dare to take the risk of setting up an ambush here? I dare not do so. You know, once Li Zhonglang's infantry is attacked by the rebels and breaks through the blocking position, it will be destroyed. Not only can it not save us, but even his own three Ten thousand people will join in. Yun Tian, ​​do you dare to ambush Lao Bian here?"

Qu Yi swallowed his saliva, licked his lips, sullenly, and made no sound.

"He's lucky." Hua Xiong twitched a pair of thick eyebrows, and said in a sour tone, "In order to chase us, the old side lost touch with the front army and the main force, so that the front army was easily surrounded by Li Zhonglang. You see Look at how easy Li Zhonglang fought this battle. The infantry and cavalry rushed from three sides, the rebel infantry surrendered, and the rebel cavalry ran away. There was no fighting at all, and the battle was over. No one was injured. Look at us..." He suddenly lashed his whip hard at the ground, and shouted angrily, "We fought the rebels in the middle of the night, killed tens of thousands of people, and ran away Ten miles away, I didn't get anything, but I was charged with crimes." Hua Xiong could no longer control the loss and frustration in his heart, and cursed loudly.He is not easy to scold anyone, but he always scolds Bian Zhang and the rebels.

Seeing Hua Xiong's angry look, Qu Yi suddenly laughed.Qu Yi asked: "Ziwei, didn't you participate in the cavalry pursuit? Li Zhonglang's troops can catch at least [-] to [-] prisoners if they pursue this way. You can't even lift your feet, why do you..."

Hua Xiong glared at him viciously, and said loudly, "Didn't Tongzi also be rushed back? What are you asking knowingly? Are you trying to make me angry? Ah? They Jizhou people feel sorry for us, saying that we fought in the middle of the night and ran away." They have been on the road all morning, tired and hungry, so they will take a rest first. The arduous task of chasing the enemy will be done by them, and the task of guarding the prisoners will be easy, so we will leave it to us. Hmph..." Hua Xiong sneered, "That's right. It sounds good, but it’s not because we’re afraid that we’ll take their credit. People from Hebei, huh..."

Zhou Shen moved his body in pain, sighed sadly, and said: "If Li Zhonglang's troops chase all the way to Muyuan, those soldiers who are alive, wounded, and captured by the enemy can all be retrieved. It is already very good. Li Zhonglang not only saved our lives, but also repelled the enemy for us. We should thank him. Could it be..." He looked at Hua Xiong and said, "Can we still ask him to give us the credit? ?”

Hua Xiong blushed, and said in shame: "General, I didn't mean that, I just..."

He thought that in the near future, he might be dismissed and condemned for the crime of defeat in the war, and he suddenly became disheartened, and he no longer felt like defending himself.

Zhou Shen looked at them and comforted him: "I'm old and I don't have any official career to speak of. I will naturally bear the responsibility for this defeat. You adults are brave and good at fighting, and you have no credit for following me. I am very guilty. After returning to Beijing, I will try my best to exonerate your lords. With my family background, it is still possible to guarantee your innocence, not to mention that Li Zhonglang won the battle in the end. Relatively speaking, our guilt is much lighter."

Xu Rong and the others were very grateful, and quickly knelt down to thank them.

It was not easy for the four of them to get into this position. They had fought for several years or even more than ten years to get such an official position. They lost nothing just because they lost a battle. Of course, no one could accept it.

===

Li Hong was surrounded by people all the time, and his head was dizzy from the noise.He successively arranged the matter of sending troops to pursue, guarding the captives, pacifying the deserters, and urging for food and grass, but there were still many expressions that followed, as if he couldn't finish it.At this moment, Zheng Xin squeezed in and shouted: "My lord, why don't you go to see General Zhou?"

Li Hong didn't react for a while, and replied loudly: "I'll go right away." Then he went to arrange things, and didn't take it seriously.

Zheng Xin was in a hurry, grabbed him, leaned close to his ear and shouted: "My son, if you don't go, you will be neglecting General Zhou and despising the superior. The general can say that you are arrogant and arrogant, and you have no one in your eyes."

Only then did Li Hong come to his senses, he hurriedly called Wei Zheng over, and said, "Guoan, you handle the matter here, I'll go see General Zhou."

Wei Zheng asked in surprise: "My lord hasn't gone yet?"

"Forgot, forgot..." Li Hong said shyly, "I really forgot."

===

Zhou Shen was very moved when he saw Li Hong kneeling on the ground paying respects.

Although the official rank is two levels behind, Li Hong saved himself, and he has just lost a battle, and he will soon be dismissed from office and convicted of crimes. At this time, don't say that Li Hong will pay a respectful visit, even if Li Hong doesn't come to visit, it is reasonable It's normal to ignore yourself.In the officialdom, there is no affection to say, especially when you are unlucky, it would be nice not to be kicked by others.But seeing Li Hong's humble face and repeated apologies, Zhou Shen really didn't know what to say other than thank you repeatedly.This young man was full of smiles and looked gentle and honest. Except for his tall and burly body, he seemed to have nothing like the legendary bloodthirsty and easy-to-kill leopard.

Zhou Shen was lying on the stretcher unable to move, so he hurriedly ordered Sun Jian to help Li Hong up.

Sun Jian, Xu Rong, Qu Yi and Hua Xiong immediately saluted Li Hong.Li Hong returned the salute repeatedly.

Li Hong smiled and said to Xu Rong: "I heard your name before I arrived in Xijiang. You are from Xuantu County in Liaodong, and we are fellow villagers."

Xu Rong's heart warmed up, and a sense of closeness emerged spontaneously. He said slowly, "Brother Bogui often mentioned you, so I also knew about your lord's reputation very early."

Li Hong asked in surprise: "You met brother Bogui?"

"He is from Western Liao, and I am from Eastern Liao, so of course we know each other. We have been friends for a long time." Xu Rong said with a smile, "Being able to see so many fellow villagers in Xiliang, people from Karasuma, people from Xianbei, I'm really happy, very happy." Xu Rong said, feeling sour in his heart, and his eyes were a little moist.He hasn't been home for many years.

Li Hong grabbed his big hand and said with a smile: "We people from northern Xinjiang gather together at night, we have agreed, and I will invite you later."

Sun Jian laughed and said, "Why, my lord only invites Captain Xu, and not us?"

Qu Yi also smiled from the side: "When Mr. Li arrived in Xiliang, he put down the rebellion in two wars. He has made outstanding achievements. In the future, the rewards will be very large, so he shouldn't be stingy with a meal, right?"

Hua Xiong sighed: "Your Excellency probably looks down on us defeated people."

Li Hong laughed, "Under the command of General Zhou, you cheated and lured the enemy, defeated the rebels, captured tens of thousands of enemies, and made great achievements. I brought the troops all the way to deliver food to you, you should invite me One meal is right, why do you want me to treat you upside down?"

Zhou Shen was stunned when he heard this, and the wrinkles on his forehead immediately squeezed together.

Sun Jian looked at Li Hong seriously, as if he wanted to read something from his face.

Xu Rong glanced at Li Hong suspiciously, thoughtfully.

The smile on Qu Yi's face disappeared immediately, replaced by a look of surprise.

Zheng Xin's face changed drastically, he stared at Li Hong's smiling face, wishing he could pounce on him and hit him a few times.

Hua Xiong's thick eyebrows trembled violently a few times, he looked at everyone cautiously, and then asked cautiously: "My lord, what did you mean just now..."

Li Hong smiled slightly and said: "Under the command of General Zhou, you cleverly used the Kuishan small road to lure the rebels from Yuzhong City, then feigned defeat in Juyuan, and lured the rebels to Xiaoniu Mountain again. Join forces with our Fengyun iron cavalry to ambush and severely damage the rebels. Everyone has contributed to such a big victory, so how can you not invite me? I drove more than 1000 miles in a row, which was very hard."

Zhou Shen heard it clearly.Li Hong actually handed over his great achievements.Why did he do this?Why did he do this?Zhou Shen looked at Li Hong motionlessly, with a dazed expression on his face.

Sun Jian was ecstatic, and his spirits were instantly lifted.

Qu Yi looked at Li Hong in surprise, as if looking at an idiot.

Xu Rong shook his head in disbelief.

Zheng Xin gritted his teeth, turned his back quietly, opened his mouth wide, and cursed loudly.Of course, he didn't dare to speak out, he could only curse dumbly.

Hua Xiong looked at the expressions of the crowd and was very suspicious in his heart. He hesitated for a moment, and then asked in a low voice: "My lord, you, why..."

Li Hong couldn't help laughing. He patted Hua Xiong's shoulder affectionately, then squatted down, looked at Zhou Shen who was frowning deeply, and said, "General, you are an elder and our predecessor. You have been in the army for decades, of course Do you know what the purpose of those of us who join the army is? Isn’t it just to make a living, eat a living, and be buried where we die. Maybe today we are still talking and laughing here, but what about tomorrow? Tomorrow maybe we will all be bloody on the battlefield, and the bones Wucun, everything is just a passing cloud, what do you want for it?"

Zhou Shen forced a smile, nodded, and said in a low voice: "You are so young, but you have such a heart, it's rare. Rumors say that you were beaten in the head in Xianbei, and you forgot the past. Looking at it now, this rumor It's not true."

Li Hong couldn't help laughing.

Looking at his smiling face and hearing his laughter, Zhou Shen couldn't control the joy in his heart, so he grinned rarely.The wrinkles on Zhou Shen's forehead immediately relaxed.

While smiling, Li Hong stood up, bowed to Zhou Shen and the others, pretended to have something to do, and left.

===

Zheng Xin followed behind Li Hong, with a cold face, without saying a word.

Li Hong felt very uncomfortable and stopped.

"Shouyan, we have been scouts together since Lulongsai. We are brothers, blood brothers. Tell me, you are unhappy, why are you unhappy? What did I do wrong? "

Zheng Xin stared at him, and shouted: "We are brothers, that's why I yell at you. You keep saying that we are brothers, have you thought about our brothers? Why do you just talk about everyone's credit on your own whim? Was it given to someone else? This battle was won by all our brothers with hard work, blood and sweat. It was not fought by you with a single gun. The credit belongs to everyone, not you alone, do you know? You If you do this, what will the brothers think? They will scold you and hate you. You are generous and straightforward, but what about the brothers? Brothers are angry, you know? If you do this, who will work for you in the future? Who will charge you? They?” Zheng Xin pointed to the distance and called out: “General Zhou will give you his life? Xu Rong, Qu Yi, these people will give you his life? Soldiers from the Northern Army, soldiers from Xiliang , will you sacrifice your life?"

Zheng Xin kept yelling and shouting, wishing he could chop him with a knife.Because there were many soldiers walking around, Zheng Xin didn't dare to be too rampant, otherwise he might not have rushed to beat them in a rage.Li Hong kept listening and remained silent.

After calling for a while, Zheng Xin gradually calmed down.

He looked at Li Hong, sighed, and said, "I'm really annoyed, Zimin, you've gone too far. Is your brain damaged by the sun in Xiliang?"

Li Hong shook his head and said with a smile, "No, how is it possible. You have said a lot, and I can also say a little bit."

Zheng Xin said weakly: "You'd better save your energy and tell Mr. Xianyu and Mr. Evergrande to listen to them. If they find out, they will definitely die of anger."

Li Hong laughed out loud.

He put his arm around Zheng Xin's shoulder and asked in a low voice, "What will you do if I die?"

Zheng Xin was startled, and stared at him dumbfounded, without making a sound for a long time.

"Perhaps, Old Man Guaizi and I will return to Lulongsai to serve as soldiers, Mr. Xianyu will return to Youzhou Governor's Mansion to serve as officials, Bearded Fist and the others will probably return to northern Xinjiang to be horse bandits, Heng Ji Xiaohu and the others will return to the tribe to graze horses and sheep. Ding Qishen and the others go back to the desert, and the tiger-headed dragon and the others go back to Jizhou to see the city gates, everyone must break up. You are dead, what are we doing?"

Li Hong smiled gratefully, and continued to ask: "What will you do if I am put into a prison van and taken to the capital for trial?"

Zheng Xin bowed his head and thought for a while, then said: "Our people from Lulongsai, those horse bandits, and the people from Wuwan and Xianbei will probably rebel and snatch you back, and everyone will go back to the desert to fight the world; Mr. Zuo will probably take you with us. The soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army returned to the Taihang Mountains. Without you, there is no place for them to stand in this world. The officers in Youzhou and Jizhou will definitely be implicated. Anyway, if you want Being caught is very troublesome, even more troublesome than your death."

"Why are you asking this?" Zheng Xin asked strangely, "I want to know how much I weigh?"

Li Hong slapped him lightly, and said with a smile, "One of these two situations may occur."

"Forget it." Zheng Xin said with a disdainful smile, "Just relying on Cheng Qiu? How bad can he do? That kid is going to be in trouble soon. Think about it, how much backstage can he have? We have Master Liu as the backstage , who is afraid of whom."

"Really." Li Hong smiled wryly, "If it wasn't for you, and for my brothers to live upright and dignifiedly, why would I do such unconscionable things? Give the credit to Zhou Shen, you think I Willing? I have no choice, either?"

Zheng Xin looked at Li Hong seriously, and asked, "Zi Min, are you hiding something from me?"

Li Hong thought about it for a while, and felt that Zheng Xin was a brother, and it was better to tell him some things, so as not to cause misunderstandings in the future and make things worse.So he told Zheng Xin again what Fu Xie had said to him that day.Zheng Xin was suddenly dumbfounded.

"We are barbarians and don't understand anything." Zheng Xin smiled wryly, "So, we still have to thank Cheng Qiu?"

Li Hong smiled helplessly, and whispered, "I really want to thank him. If he hadn't appeared in time, we wouldn't have given Zhou Shen the credit for this."

Li Hong thought for a while and continued: "Although Mr. Fu probably guessed their backstage, he didn't know exactly what would happen, so he spoke vaguely, and I didn't understand what he said. What. The sudden appearance of Cheng Qiu confirmed that Mr. Fu's guess was correct, so I immediately understood what Mr. Fu meant. Someone in the court planned to harm me in order to continue the war in Xiliang. Who would believe it? Mr. Fu has taken great care of me, and I will definitely return this favor to him in the future."

"At that time, Master Fu repeatedly mentioned Zhou Shen's family background and background. Zhou Shen was born in a family of officials and officials. Several generations of his family were married to the royal family, and he was a relative of the emperor. According to Master Fu, General Zhou Shen's son is the Son of Heaven. The celebrity around him is the emperor's confidant. His son is the magistrate of the Central Tibet government, in charge of the coins, silk, gold and silver in the palace. Today, many fields and properties of the emperor are managed by him. In addition, Zhou Shen has a relationship with the general He Jin Very good. In fact, we can also think that the General gave the Northern Army to this person to command, which shows that the relationship between the two is extraordinary."

"Now that I think about it, Mr. Fu probably meant that I should find a way to establish friendship with Zhou Shen, and then use Zhou Shen to dredge the relationship between the upper and lower courts and get over the current crisis."
"So, before the battle is fought, I will give the credit to Zhou Shen first. Thinking about it now, my luck is not bad. If the machete comes late, things will be a little troublesome."

Zheng Xin looked at him and asked sympathetically: "This is the first time you have encountered this, do you feel tired? I feel tired even after hearing it. It must be even more uncomfortable for you to be in it."

Li Hong smiled coldly, gritted his teeth, and said murderously, "You mess with me? Go to hell."

Zheng Xin was startled, looked at him timidly, suddenly remembered Zuo Feng who had no bones left, and felt cold in his heart.

===

(End of this chapter)