Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 232 Defeat Yang Zhong!
Shiben.

Liu Taozi was wearing heavy armor, holding a lance, and standing in the front.

Behind him, there were thousands of knights, lined up in a row, occupying the high slope, all wearing armor and with fierce looks in their eyes.

The wind blew strongly and the flags fluttered.

The warhorse rubbed its front hooves slowly.

Opposite them, there were also cavalrymen lined up and waiting, with a large flag with the word "Yang" on it fluttering in the middle of their formation.

In the vast desert, the two armies confronted each other.

Yang Zhong rode forward with a lance in his hand. His warhorse was completely black and covered with armor, and was exceptionally tall. Yang Zhong himself was also protected by heavy armor, and his entire body was wrapped up. His face was firm, and he stared at Liu Taozi in the distance.

The two sides have been officially fighting for more than a month.

Facing this young general who was praised to the sky by Wei Xiaokuan, Yang Zhong still felt quite disdainful.

When he was fighting, this young boy didn't even know where to get his milk!

With 10,000 elite soldiers and auxiliary troops, their field combat power is not weak. Although the enemy has a large number of troops, they have to be stationed in various places and are scattered from each other. They also have to face large-scale Turkic cavalry coming from the direction of Hengzhou. Yang Zhong is not afraid that he will not win.

Yang Zhong sent the old general Yang Zuan to attack Jinhe, Han Xiong to attack Wanshou, Li Mu and Tian Hong to march into Huaishuo Wuchuan, Yuanshou and Han Qinhu to attack Baima, and Wang Jie and Erzhumin took a detour to the north to Hengzhou and joined forces with the Turks to attack Huaihuang.

As for himself, he led several other generals to attack the three newly occupied garrisons.

But the war did not go as smoothly as Yang Zhong had expected.

The invincible old general Yang Zuan suffered a defeat at Jinhe. He once fought his way into the city, but was driven out by the auxiliary soldiers and civilians in the city. He was then attacked by border soldiers and suffered heavy casualties.

Liu Taozi's auxiliary soldiers were well-trained. Although they were not strong enough to go out for field battles, they were more than enough to defend the city. With the addition of those trained civilians, the city's defense strength increased a lot, and the border soldiers could be pulled out for field battles.

Han Xiong has been fighting fiercely with Potala Ku in Wanshou, but has not won yet and the battle is still going on.

However, Li Mu and Tian Hong were ambushed by the enemy generals Tu Xi Yue and Liu Chengcai at the junction of Huaishuo and Wuchuan, and the enemy won a tragic victory.

Yuanshou almost lost his life on Baima. If Han Qinhu hadn't protected him, he would have been captured alive by the bandit general Li Qihu.

The ones with the best performance were Yang Zhong himself, Wang Jie and Erzhumin.

Yang Zhong recaptured the two garrisons of Tianzhu and Xin'an. Although it cost a considerable price, he finally won.

Wang Jie and his men, together with the Turkic cavalry, broke through Yao Xiong's defense line and entered Beiyanzhou, and were preparing to attack Hengzhou.

Yang Zhong slowly looked towards the big flag with the word "Liu" in the distance.

Well, it’s really amazing.

No wonder Wei Xiaokuan praised him so much. Putting aside his other abilities, his ability to deceive the people was truly first-rate.

Auxiliary soldiers, civilians and even common people from all over the place assisted him in defending the city and attacking. His scouts were attacked by farmers and the news was leaked. After Yang Zuan broke into the city, he even encountered a counterattack from the people inside the city. According to him, even the elderly, the weak, women and children went out and began to attack his soldiers.

Yang Zhong didn’t know how the other party did it, but he felt that it was all over.

After he captured the two garrisons, he pretended to continue attacking Niutou Garrison, but in fact he quickly moved north, cutting off Liu Taozi's retreat and besieging Liu Taozi in Shiben.

Next, as long as he kills him, Shuo Heng will be defeated by himself.

Liu Taozi raised his lance and pointed it at the general who was riding forward in the distance.

"As long as we kill him, the war will be over."

War drums sounded.

Liu Taozi led the cavalry and rode down in rhythm to the beat of the drums. They did not choose to charge, but advanced slowly at a steady pace.

"Boom~boom~boom~"

The war horses raised their hooves gracefully, and the knights, one on top and one on the bottom, all held their weapons tightly.

Yang Zhong immediately gave orders, and his command flags began to change.

The next moment, his army split into two. The knights in the front did not move, while the knights in the back row began to turn around and slowly retreat.

Keep some distance from the knights in front.

The knights in front raised their lances, and shieldmen stepped forward and lined up around the knights. The shields were connected to form an iron formation, and spears stretched out from the large shields like a forest.

Now Liu Taozi is in a high position, which is more advantageous for charge. The front row can withstand the enemy's fierce attack. As long as they block this first round of charge, their back row will not be able to charge a second time, and the rear army that has opened up a distance can take the opportunity to launch a fierce attack.

Liu Taozi raised the command flag here.

The sound of war drums gradually became gentler, his army stopped advancing, and the entire army was divided into two. The army on the left wing began to turn around and move away from the center.

Yang Zhong frowned and raised the command flag again.

The light cavalry took the initiative to leave the formation and began to move forward quickly, exerting pressure and preparing to fire in spurts to interrupt the opponent's intention to change formation.

The war drums sounded again on Liu Taozi's side, and the light cavalry also came out.

For a while, the military orders on both sides kept changing, the formations were adjusted many times, sometimes gathering, sometimes dispersing, sometimes changing the main attack and defense line, and sometimes retreating to garrison. The two sides had never fought each other, but had already tested each other dozens of times.

Yang Zhong and Liu Taozi stared at each other intently, neither of them showing any slackness.

Yang Zhong tried many times but failed to disrupt the opponent's formation, and the opponent still maintained the advantage in terrain.

Suddenly, Yang Zhong burst into laughter. He looked around and said, "Rest!!"

"Eat bread and drink water!!"

The knights didn't ask any more questions. They took out water bags and bread from their arms one after another. The infantrymen who were most exhausted sat down to rest.

"Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!"

The next moment, war drums sounded here at Liu Taozi's place, and the knights immediately began to charge.

Yang Zhong gave the order again, "Fight!"

The infantry immediately formed a battle array to block the attack, the knights dropped their water bags, and Liu Taozi's knights rushed forward, shaking the earth and mountains. Liu Taozi charged in front, and when he led his troops to the front of the enemy formation, the enemy had already formed a defensive formation, and the cavalry in the rear of the enemy were ready to charge. Yang Zhong controlled the charge distance extremely accurately, and he knew that at that distance, he could be prepared for a counterattack before actually fighting the enemy.

The Green Lion leaped high, jumped over the long shield formation, and charged directly into the enemy formation. Liu Taozi swung the lance in his hand left and right, and several knights were knocked off their horses. The army collided fiercely with each other. For a moment, people and horses fell to the ground, the knights fell to the ground one after another, the shields were knocked away, and the infantrymen flew out directly.

The spear pierced the chest of the charging knight, and both the man and his horse died wailing.

Liu Taozi's charge was extremely fierce. He rushed left and right and managed to create a gap in the enemy's front position. However, their charge speed was inevitably weakened. After charging for more than a hundred steps, they were blocked by the enemy's infantry and cavalry, and their forward speed was immediately weakened.

Yang Zhong immediately gave orders, and the knights behind him charged forward, while the infantry and cavalry blocking Liu Taozi and others began to disperse their formation.

In this way, even if Liu Taozi was attacked by the enemy, he didn't care. He stared straight at the general flag in front of him, fought hard, and waved his lance continuously, and enemies fell one after another.

There was a melee between the two sides, with shouts of killing filling the air.

Someone dies every moment, and their bodies are not intact.

Yang Zhong just watched Liu Taozi force his way to the center of the army. He looked at Liu Taozi with some surprise. Liu Taozi reminded him of another Qi man. They used the same tactics and the same fighting style.

Yang Zhong gritted his teeth but did not choose to retreat. He roared and rode forward.

The next moment, Yang Zhong appeared in front of Liu Taozi with his lance raised high.

Liu Taozi's horse spear smashed hard at Yang Zhong's head, "Bang~~~"

The two men's lances smashed together fiercely. Liu Taozi staggered, and Yang Zhong's hands trembled, and the lance almost fell to the ground.

"Ah!!"

Liu Taozi swung again, but Yang Zhong leaned down, almost sticking to his horse, to avoid the swing, and stabbed Liu Taozi in the abdomen again. Liu Taozi leaned back slightly and also avoided the opponent's stab. He raised his lance and swung again. Yang Zhong held the lance horizontally and stepped forward to meet the attack.

"Bang!!!!"

Yang Zhong's face turned blood red, and his hands began to tremble. He pushed the lance away violently, and the two men continued to ride forward, and they had finally met.

Yang Zhong turned his horse around and rushed towards Liu Taozi again. The two of them galloped towards him.

"Bang!!!"

The two fought back and forth.

After that, the two simply stopped fighting and ran side by side, constantly bombarding each other with their lances, and no one could stop them.

The knights are still fighting a bloody battle until this moment.

There was no commander on either side, no changes in military orders, and everyone was fighting. The soldiers hacked at the enemies in front of them, and were then pierced by the knights. The horses' legs were chopped off by the infantry, and the knights fell with their heads raised, crushing countless soldiers to death.

Yang Zhong's knights charged forward, and the Qi army's charge was contained and they even began to retreat.

"Bang!!!"

There was another loud noise.

Yang Zhong's hands began to feel numb. Seeing the ferocious Liu Taozi raising his lance again, Yang Zhong's eyes widened. He turned his horse's head abruptly and left.

A charging knight blocked the road, Liu Taozi's lance fell, and the two knights screamed and fell to the ground. Liu Taozi continued to chase, Yang Zhong looked at the battlefield on the left and right, then looked at the deputy general and made a gesture.

Yang Zhong's rear army stopped charging and gradually slowed down. Yang Zhong returned to the rear army position surrounded by several knights. The main general's flag began to move towards the rear army. The enemy's formation gradually dispersed and began to return to defense continuously.

The pressure Liu Taozi faced was greatly reduced. He looked around and saw that the army had suffered heavy casualties, and the remaining troops were still fighting.

He also raised the command flag and led the rest of the knights to charge towards the left wing.

The knights seemed to have found the way, and followed Liu Taozi to charge towards the left wing. Gradually, the battlefield calmed down.

Liu Taozi led the surviving knights and disappeared into the distance.

Countless corpses were left on the ground, and the war horses were neighing and rubbing their heads against the lifeless masters in front of them.

Yang Zhong was panting, the remaining troops lined up around him, and he watched them leave.

He inflicted heavy damage to Liu Taozi's cavalry and crippled the enemy's elite field troops, and it seemed that he had won.

But Liu Taozi successfully broke through again, also causing heavy casualties to Yang Zhong's cavalry, who were even unable to pursue. It seemed that Liu Taozi had won.

Yang Zhong's hands were shaking, his whole hands were numb and he lost consciousness. He didn't know how he held the lance. Every moment, he felt a strong tingling sensation in the palm of his hand. This tingling sensation was not only in his hands, but also in his arms and abdomen. He felt pain all over his body!
There was a strange taste in my mouth, I don’t know if I bit my tongue or something, but there was blood in my mouth.

Yang Zhongqiang endured the pain all over his body and looked into the distance with difficulty.

If I were thirty years younger.
Murong Yan walked forward and looked at the general in front of him. He wiped the blood off his face and looked in the direction where Liu Taozi was going. "General, why don't you continue fighting?"

"They were about to collapse. If we charge again, we can wipe them out completely!"

"No. If we continue to fight, we will both perish."

"Have each unit dispatch its best troops and send them to me quickly. We can't get past Liu Taozi here. We can't attack by force anymore. It's futile."

Murong Yan pursed his lips and said, "General, it is difficult to defeat them with 10,000 elite soldiers."

Murong Yan didn't know what to say at this moment. Looking at the corpses all over the ground, he was really heartbroken.

These are all elite soldiers. It would be heartbreaking for a long time if one of them died.

We had agreed before that I was just testing Liu Taozi, so why did you get so carried away?
Yang Zhong whispered, "We have to avoid Liu Taozi."

"We will not get entangled with Liu Taozi. He is a brave man in his prime and will be difficult to defeat. After this battle, he will not dare to go out to fight rashly. We will leave a few armies to continue to hold him back. We will lead a small part of the elite troops to bypass him and attack Jinyang directly."

"what??"

Murong Yan was stunned and attacked Jinyang by detour? ?

Isn't this a one-way trip?
"We have to cross the river."

Yang Zhong narrowed his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking about.

At the same time, Liu Taozi quickly turned his troops back without stopping along the way. It was not until he reached the vicinity of Huaishuo that he met Tu Xiyue.

Tu Xiyue's face was full of astonishment. After meeting Liu Taozi, his whole body was shaking with excitement.

"We all thought that the general was besieged by Yang Zhong and were preparing to send troops to rescue him, but we never thought that the general would defeat Yang Zhong!!"

Tu Xiyue didn't know what to say. Although Liu Taozi had fought in many battles in the past, his opponents were not very good after all. But this time, he was facing Yang Zhong, a famous general who could compete with Hulugu, Duan Shao, Lou Rui and others. Even the famous generals of the Pseudo-Zhou Dynasty such as Da Xiwu felt inferior to Yang Zhong, that their own general could actually defeat his army and kill his way out. From now on, when talking about famous generals in the world, the general's name will certainly be mentioned.

But Liu Taozi didn't care much about this matter.

When the army entered Huaishuo, Chu Jiande hurried to treat the wounded.

Liu Taozi discussed military affairs with many generals in the office.

"General, the enemy initially wanted to attack by force, but I attacked them once, and they dared not come out. They have been using light cavalry to harass the surrounding villages and towns, killing people and setting fires."

Listening to Tu Xiyue's report, Liu Taozi lowered his head and looked at the map in front of him.

The enemy dispersed their attacks and did not choose to defeat them one by one. Tu Xiyue frowned and said, "Yang Zhong is really incomprehensible. He has more field troops, but he did not choose to defeat them one by one. Instead, he actively dispersed his forces and tried to attack in various places, but he was unable to capture many cities. General, they are not going to let the Turks take the lead, right?"

"Yao Xiong's defense line is too long. We have been defending for more than a month, but we still haven't been able to block it. A gap has been opened in Yanzhou. Should we also focus on the east?"

Liu Taozi stared at the map in front of him and was silent for a long time.

"Let Kouliu return to Wuchuan."

"General, the local troops in Shuozhou are not under the command of the bandits."

"No problem. When Gao Anagong came here, he brought a group of soldiers from Yecheng with him."

Tu Xiyue thought about it and nodded, "It seems that there is such a thing, and it has been scattered all over Shuozhou."

"Let Kouliu gather them together and bring them back to Wuchuan quickly."

"I have a great use for you."

"only!!"

Liu Taozi's eyes slowly moved across the map, from Sanshu to Guizhen, Anning, Shuofang, and Yanzhou.
"Cross the river."

At this moment, a soldier suddenly reported that he had brought a scout from Shuozhou.

The scout was exhausted. In order to find Liu Taozi, he had run countless miles and encountered countless bandits. He looked extremely tired. When he saw Liu Taozi, he was so happy that he almost cried.

He hurriedly handed the pile of letters to Liu Taozi.

Liu Taozi asked him to go back and rest first, and asked the generals to make preparations, while he looked through them one by one.

Most of the letters were written by Tian Zili and Zu Ting.

Tian Zili's letter said that Gao Guiyan's rebellion had been put down, and Shuozhou had received a large number of deceased people and was currently trying to appease them.

Zu Ting's letter was more passionate, and he never forgot to explain his own contributions. He said that he had managed to make Tian Zili the Sima of Shuozhou, and won over many officials and low-level clerks, making it impossible for Gao Yan to truly take charge of Shuozhou.

Kou Liu's letter was complaining about Zu Ting. He accused Zu Ting of selling horses in Shuozhou, accepting bribes, etc.

But the most alarming thing was that Tian Zili talked about the situation of the imperial court's transportation of grain. The imperial court deliberately delayed it. Tian Zili believed that people should be sent to buy grain from the surrounding states and counties as soon as possible to prevent the imperial court from cutting off their supply of materials.

Liu Taozi's expression became extremely solemn.

Yang Zhong was outside and Gao Zhan was inside.

Double pressure, attack from inside and outside.

Soon, the knights set out from Huaishuo and rushed towards the Shuozhou defense line.

Shuozhou.

Tianfu.

Tian Zili, Zu Ting and Kou Liu were sitting in the main room.

Looking at the secret letters in front of them, the three of them remained silent.

Tian Zili stood there in a daze, feeling a little dazed.

The news coming from Yecheng is really too scary.

First, Heba Cheng sent someone to inform He Shikai that he was going to replace the grain transport vehicle in Sizhou, and then Lu Qubing sent someone to say that he might have a falling out with Yecheng. Then he received a secret letter from Zheng Daoqian, saying that the pseudo-Zhou spies had joined forces with He Shikai and were preparing to attack Liu Taozi's confidant.
The series of news caught Tian Zili off guard.

These days, he has been busy comforting the dead. He is so busy that he has to squeeze in time for sleep. Now such a big thing has happened.

"Hahaha~~~"

"OK!!"

"Very good!!"

“This is an opportunity given to us by God!!”

Zu Ting suddenly burst into laughter.

Tian Zili and Kou Liu looked at him with some surprise in their eyes. Kou Liu couldn't help but question, "Yang Zhong is a famous general known to everyone in the world. He is fighting with my brother outside the Great Wall, and He Shikai has joined forces with the enemy to murder my brother. Is this a good thing when there are internal and external troubles?!"

Zu Ting narrowed his eyes, slowly hid a jade pendant into his sleeve, raised his head and said, "When Gao Zhan ascended the throne, everyone in the court had great expectations for him, and the royal family fully supported him."

"But what did he give these supporters? The ministers who made the greatest contributions were forced to rebel by him and are about to be killed. The nobles did not get any benefits, the big families did not get any benefits, the royal family did not get any benefits. The only ones who got any benefits were people like He Shikai!"

"Except for He Shikai, who else will continue to support him?"

"This is our best chance to seize power in the temple!"

"Don't worry, Zili, this is not something you should be thinking about. Just continue to torment your dead."

"Let me handle this matter."

ps: After reading yesterday's chapter reviews, I'm really sorry. I thought hard for a long time yesterday and rewrote the outline. I wanted to write a story about a fight between Yang Zhong in military affairs and Gao Zhan in government affairs, where everyone showed their talents and everyone got their turn, and then they gathered together under great pressure and exploded. Maybe I didn't write it well, but thank you all for your criticism and suggestions. With your criticism and suggestions, I can write better.

(End of this chapter)