Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 237 Supporting Yao Xiong
Wuchuan.

Kou Liu led the cavalry closer to the city.

There were many corpses on the road outside Wuchuan. Most of them had their heads cut off. Half of the headless bodies were covered, as if they had been dug out and were lying naked on both sides.

Wuchuan was also attacked, and the villages and towns on both sides showed signs of burning.

Kou Liu couldn't help but frown. Just as he approached the city, a general came to greet him. It was his old acquaintance Tu Xiyue.

Meeting again, I felt mixed emotions of sadness and joy.

Tu Xiyue sighed and walked side by side with Kou Liu. "You came at the right time. The Zhou people stopped attacking the city and set fire to villages everywhere. We had no choice but to gather the civilians into the city."

"But if this happens, the autumn harvest will suffer. This year's money and grain have not been distributed yet, and the military rations are already running low."

"We usually send troops to fight after the autumn harvest, but Yang Zhong sent troops during the spring planting season. They don't have to worry about food, but it ruins our reclamation and farming."

Tu Xiyue was worried.

Although there seem to be a lot of soldiers on the border, they are scattered and cannot gather together to fight. The border is not surrounded by city walls, and the enemy can attack from all directions. Garrisons are needed everywhere, and tens of thousands of people are scattered on the border. The defense is okay, but it is not very good to send troops to counterattack.

Food is another big problem. I don’t know how long this war will last, maybe one year, or two, or even three years.

No one can say for sure, but when the two sides are at war, food production will definitely be greatly affected and the country will become poorer and poorer.

The bandits brought some money and food this time, which were forced together by Shuozhou. Shuozhou is considered wealthy in the border areas, but compared with the Central Plains, it is just a poor and cold border place.

The Zhou people had implemented the system of military service for many years. Even if there was nothing else, at least they did not have to worry about money and food. During these years, there had been almost no food crises. However, the Great Qi had frequently encountered food crises since the sixth year of Tianbao. The situation was not eased until Gao Yan came to power and reclaimed land in various places to reduce food losses.

Kou Liu frowned, "Yang Zhong is a very hateful person. This time I must follow my brother and kill this old villain!"

Kou Liu led everyone into the city. For a military fortress like Wuchuan, there was no question of whether the soldiers could enter the city.

Wuchuan became desolate again, somewhat similar to when Kou Liu and others had just arrived.

There was no one to be seen on the road, only urgent scouts running madly towards the government office.

Kou Liu first sent someone to take the cavalrymen to the parade ground to rest, while he followed Tu Xiyue to the government office to pay a visit to Liu Taozi.

Liu Taozi sat in the upper seat, wearing casual clothes, with a solemn expression and several bandage marks on his body.

Kou Liu was shocked. He didn't even greet him, but ran to Liu Taozi in a panic, "Brother is injured?!!"

"How can anyone not get hurt when marching and fighting?"

Kou Liu pursed his lips and finally sat aside helplessly.

"Did you meet Zhou people on the road?"

“It happened twice.”

"After I received my brother's order, I gathered Yecheng cavalry from all over the place and rode here non-stop, just wanting to get here as soon as possible. When the Zhou scouts saw us, they ran away, and I didn't chase them."

Liu Taozi slowly frowned, and Kou Liu explained: "Brother, this fortress is full of Zhou scouts, it is impossible to secretly mobilize troops."

"However, the enemy's scouts ran away after encountering our scouts. They probably didn't find out our number. I also frequently changed the number of campfire cookers along the way."

"Brother."

Kou Liu looked at Liu Taozi's appearance and suddenly realized that he had messed up something big, and he felt a little guilty.

Liu Taozi spoke up, "No problem, but the key to war is information. Remember, when you deploy troops in war, you should send more scouts. It is better to give way than to be discovered by the enemy because of time."

"only!!"

Liu Taozi then ordered Tu Xiyue to reward the soldiers in Yecheng and let them rest for three days.

He took out the map and spread it in front of Kou Liu.

The map was quite large, and it was exactly the area where Zhou and Qi were currently fighting. All the information obtained about the enemy was on the map.

"The enemy is not attacking the city much now. They are mostly harassing us. The only thing that worries us is Hengzhou."

"The Turks invaded Yanzhou, and Yao Xiong was short of troops and could not pursue them. Fortunately, Zhang Heizu was a calm person, and he did not rush out to fight after being provoked by the Zhou people several times, so the city has not been lost so far."

Kou Liu looked at the map carefully, and the confusing information gradually became clear.

"If the war drags on, it will cause great harm to the border. We are short of money and food, and we can't rely on the government."

"I originally wanted to cross the river and see if I could attack Guizhen, or rush around Yubi and force the enemy to retreat."

"However, Da Xiwu's march is slow and he is still in his own territory. Now the enemy has discovered that there are cavalry being transferred to Wuchuan, so this matter has become somewhat difficult."

"We will first send troops to Hengzhou, defeat the Zhou people who led the charge, and drive them out of the northeastern states. Then, we will take a detour and attack here in the name of pursuing the Turks!"

Liu Taozi knocked on a place.

Kou Liu looked carefully and saw that Liu Taozi was pointing at Yongfeng Town.

This is the most important core of the enemy's northern defense line, without a doubt. Its status is equivalent to Shuohengzhou of Qi. The enemy's troop deployment against the Turks and Shuoheng is all centered on Yongfeng.

Kou Liu said in astonishment: "Brother, there must be a lot of food stored here, and it is heavily guarded. The city is strong. If we fail to capture it for a long time, we will be surrounded by the enemy."

“Yes, so we must work hard to overcome it.”

"Three days later, send troops to support Yao Xiong."

"only!!"

After discussing the dispatch of troops, Kou Liu told him about Shuozhou. "The new king is quite generous and doesn't seem like a relative of the emperor at all. He treats us very well and leaves all the important matters to Tian Zili. He helps us suppress local officials and doesn't shield those officials who break the law. In the past, someone found him and wanted to team up with him to deal with us, but he arrested that person and sent him to us."

Kou Liu said with a sigh: "In these years, I have met so many great kings, most of those with water in their names are not good people, only this one is very good."

"Gao Guiyan's rebellion brought many refugees to Jizhou. Thanks to this wise king, we were able to successfully resettle them."

Liu Taozi nodded slightly.

Kou Liuhu said again: "That's it."

"Zu Ting."

"Brother, this person is really useless."

Kou Liu's expression was completely different when he talked about Gao Yan and Zu Ting. When he talked about Gao Yan, there was a smile on his face, but when he talked about Zu Ting, he began to grit his teeth.

"This is a real villain! He openly lived in a widow's house in Shuozhou, hired prostitutes everywhere, and summoned scholars to have fun at home. The most hateful thing is that he always recommends some people who bribed him, hoping to let them serve as officials!"

"He also smuggled horses and wanted to sell Shuozhou's fine horses to the south!"

"He also stole. He even stole from Prince Pingyang!! Prince Pingyang held a banquet at his home, and he stole someone's silver plate. He was caught on the spot!"

"He also engaged in fraud. He deceived those unscrupulous merchants in Shuozhou, saying that he could support their smuggling business and not pay taxes. After taking their money, he disappeared. Even the criminals were so angry that they turned themselves in to the police."

"Brother, what's the point of keeping such a villain?!"

Liu Taozi was somewhat stunned. He was silent for a moment before he said, "Let's wait until we defeat the thieves before we talk about his affairs."

After resting for three days, Liu Taozi led his troops to leave Wuchuan.

He mainly used the soldiers from Yecheng, mixed in some Wuchuan knights, and led three thousand knights to gallop away.

Huaihuangsuo.

The shouts of killing rose to the sky.

Yao Xiong was wearing armor and holding a big knife, constantly hacking and killing the enemies who climbed up the city.

A steady stream of soldiers rushed to the top of the city wall. Yao Xiong roared and rushed towards them, knocking over several soldiers in front of him and knocking them off the city wall.

The siege army was mainly composed of Zhou people and Turks. The Turks were not all cavalry. After the previous grassland wars and possessing smelting technology, they had equally elite infantry and professional siege teams.

When many Zhou people suffered casualties, the Turks stopped attacking.

Beside the big flag opposite, Erzhumin's face turned red. Watching the Turks retreat, he couldn't help but look at the eastern Khan Ashina Kutou standing aside.

Kutou is the younger brother of the current Turkic Khan Mukhan. After Mukhan Khan ascended the throne, he made several of his younger brothers the Khan of the East and the Khan of the West, and used the royal family to govern the vast territory. Although they were all Khans, their status was similar to that of the emperor and the king. They were only Khans within their own jurisdiction, not Khans of the entire Turkic Khanate.

Kutu Khan was still young. He wore a cassock and held Buddhist beads in his hands. He looked at the people who died in the battle in the distance and recited a few verses of scriptures for them.

Erzhumin looked at him, trying to suppress his anger, "Khan, many of my men have been killed or wounded. If you give the order again, we can capture the city in one go. Why do you suddenly stop?" Kutou said gently, "Such a strong attack will cause too many casualties. I can't bear it."

fart!!
At this moment, Erzhumin really wanted to pounce on him and beat him.

These Turks didn't come here to fight at all.

They came to plunder. As long as Wang Jie and I did not come, they would not move forward. Even though they had a force several times stronger than Yao Xiong's, they refused to continue the attack. Instead, they just grazed their livestock outside the city, leisurely waiting for Yang Zhong to enter Shuozhou.

They waited until Erzhu Min and Wang Jie arrived and took the initiative to attack as vanguards before they followed suit and attacked together.

In this way, they defeated Yao Xiong's defensive army from the east and entered the territory of Qi. However, in every subsequent battle, they asked the Zhou people to be the vanguard. If they had an advantage, they would fight hard to kill the enemy. If they were at a disadvantage, they would immediately abandon the Zhou people and retreat.

Especially this Kutou, Erzhumin even suspected that this guy was deliberately helping the Qi people and wanted to cause the greatest casualties to the Qi and Zhou people.

Take this time for example, it was he who said that they could attack by force and would definitely take the city.

Erzhumin then sent all his elite troops to attack Huaihuang in a mighty force. When they were about to take it, the Turks suddenly retreated, and the Zhou people had no choice but to retreat with them, and so many people died in the battle for no reason.

Looking at Erzhumin who was filled with grief and indignation, Kutou Khan laughed again and said, "Don't be angry. I will give you some Buddhist scriptures. If you read them, you will feel much better."

"I have always been a Buddhist and I hate killing the most."

"Then I would like to thank Khan for his kindness."

Erzhumin said this coldly, and rode his horse towards his front army to pick up the defeated soldiers.

Looking at Erzhumin going away, Kutou Khan laughed. The knight beside him slowly stepped forward and said, "Khan, the Great Khan asked us to help with all our strength. Is it not good for us to do this?"

"What do you know?! What good will it do us if the Qi people's city is conquered? What good will it do us if Qi is destroyed?"

"Let them continue to fight. It's a fight that will hurt both sides. The more people die, the better."

"When we have absorbed the Rouran people and they have almost finished fighting, it will be like having two sons in the south!"

"Both sons must compete to be filial to their father. If one of them is not filial, we will join forces with the other to attack them."

The knight was stunned and scratched his head. What the Khan said seemed a little too far-fetched.

Both sides began to clean up the mess, taking away the wounded and bodies.

Yao Xiong was panting, leaning against the city wall, watching the retreating army in the distance.

"Long live!!"

The soldiers who successfully repelled the enemy cheered again.

Yao Xiong smiled at them, but the smile quickly disappeared and his expression became solemn again.

The disparity in military strength is too great.

Yao Xiong has no more than 10,000 soldiers on his entire defense line. Now, Huai Huang is in charge of 700 armored soldiers. Including auxiliary soldiers and civilians who volunteered to defend the city, there are more than 5,000 people in total.

But the other side, the Turks, were so powerful that their tents were connected together and looked even bigger than the city of Huaihuang.

If they attack a few more times, I'm afraid the city will be unable to be defended.

Yao Xiong suddenly felt a little guilty.

Although he was in Beiheng, he heard a lot about things in various places. He heard that everyone fought well. Po Duo Luo Sha, Liu Da Tou, Yan Hei Ai Zi, Tu Xi Lan Ya, all made great achievements.

As for himself, he was defeated by the enemy at the border and was suddenly attacked by the enemy. Erzhumin was still here, while another Wang Jie had already reached the hinterland of Hengzhou and fought with Zhang Heizu.

I don’t know how Lao Tian, ​​Lao Kou, Lao Chu and the others are doing.

It would be fine if I died in battle, but how can I face my brother for the crime of losing land?

Yao Xiong looked into the distance again, thinking: If the city is to be breached, it would be best to jump into the pile of soldiers below the city, and be trampled to death without leaving a body, so that he would not have to face his brother after death.
At this moment, the ground began to tremble slightly.

The next moment, the familiar sound of war drums came from the south.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Yao Xiong rushed towards the south city wall.

When he stood on tiptoe and looked into the distance, he saw a large number of knights lined up in a long formation and rushing towards here.

The leader unfurled a huge flag. Yao Xiong couldn't see it clearly and was so angry that he jumped up and down. "Someone with good eyesight, come and look! What's written on the flag?!"

A soldier who was specifically responsible for keeping an eye on the matter hurried over to Yao Xiong and looked into the distance, "General Yao! It says Liu!"

“Liu?!!”

"Is it the Great Red Flag or the Tiger Hero Flag?!"

"The big red flag!"

"Ha ha ha ha!!!"

Yao Xiong raised his head and laughed wildly. His laughter was extremely unbridled. The messenger quickly notified all places of the situation. For a while, cheers on the city wall were deafening.

"Someone come! Beat the drum for me!!"

"Everyone who can hold a spear, follow me down the city wall and get ready to follow the general into battle!!"

At this moment, the camp outside the city was in chaos. Erzhumin rushed to Kutou again, "Khan! It's Liu Taozi! Liu Taozi is here!!"

Erzhumin's face was pale and he looked extremely frightened. Kutou's face was equally solemn. He quickly put away the Buddhist beads in his hand and began to command his troops loudly. Kutou Khan, who was known for his kindness and his inability to use troops to avoid fighting with the Qi people, was acting out of character at this moment. He even used the five-color flag to command the army. Erzhumin didn't bother to argue with him at this moment and hurriedly sent a vanguard to block the enemy's army.

Liu Taozi came running wildly, holding a horse lance, and hit the vanguard army hard.

The entire army was changing direction, with the rear army and two cavalry units preparing to move forward for an encirclement.

The heavy cavalry rushed in with unstoppable momentum. Under the leadership of Liu Taozi, they began to charge frantically, charge, charge, and charge again.

The enemies fell before them one after another, and the iron knights easily tore through the enemy's defenses, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.

The city gate was opened at some point, and Yao Xiong led the knights to charge out and attack the enemy's flank.

The sound of war drums continued to roar, shouts of killing rang out, the knights fought fiercely, and people kept falling to the ground. Liu Taozi just broke through the enemy's formation. Behind him were many heavily armored knights, who pressed forward all the way, and a large gap appeared in the enemy's formation.

Ku Tou then began to panic. He had been fighting with the enemy for a long time, but had never seen such strong fighting power.

Just after the fight, countless of their elite soldiers were killed and wounded. After those people charged forward, the knights behind them were unable to keep up, leaving an exaggeratedly large gap behind them.

Kutou made a prompt decision.

"Ignore the Zhou people! Retreat! Retreat!"

The Turkish cavalry began to disperse and flee, and in a moment, the formation became even emptier.

Erzhumin was fighting, but when he turned around, the Turks on his left and right began to flee. Erzhumin was horrified, and the Turkish flags also flew away with them.

He raised his spear and roared in anger:

"Ashina Kutou!!!"

"Pfft~~"

Yao Xiong, who was charging forward, raised his hand and shot an arrow, and Erzhumin fell into the crowd, with no trace of his body.

The Zhou people were in chaos and were immediately defeated, while the Turks fled in all directions. The Turks' military system made them not good at large-scale legion warfare, but that did not mean they were without advantages. Their advantage was that they had amazing organizational capabilities in a dispersed small-scale state. If the Central Plains army retreated when facing a head-on battle, they would most likely be defeated, but the Turks were able to use tactics such as dispersing, gathering, and detouring during the battle.

The heavy cavalry could not continue the pursuit, so the light cavalry stepped forward and began to chase and kill them.

The enemy left behind one corpse after another. Turning your back to the enemy is never a good thing.

Yao Xiong was not in a hurry to go to the heavy cavalry, and led the knights to continue the pursuit.

They chased all the way from Huaihuang to the Great Wall outside Xinshan, fighting from day to night.

Just as it was getting dark, the light cavalry stopped their pursuit.

Yao Xiong quickly led his troops back.

"Brother!!!"

(End of this chapter)