Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 291 The natural cycle
Zhou, Luozhou, Shangluo City.

The city gate is closed.

The soldiers on the city wall raised their crossbows and aimed at the people outside the city.

The defender only dared to stick out half of his head and stared at the enemies outside the city vigilantly.

Outside the city, a scribe was jumping up and down, cursing.

There were more than a hundred knights standing beside him, and there were four or five luxurious carriages. The knights were looking around anxiously at this moment.

The scholar rode his horse closer to the city again and pointed his whip at the guards on the city wall, "Open the city gate for me! Open the city gate!!"

"If anything happens to us, we will make your entire clan pay for it with their lives!!"

Hearing the scholar's roar, the guard still did not dare to show his head.

The scribe was so angry that he wanted to move forward, but the archers on the city wall shot arrows without hesitation. The arrows flew and landed around the scribe. The scribe was so scared that he rolled and crawled and ran back to the knights.

“These people are crazy!!”

“This is crazy!!”

The scribe sat on the ground, his face full of despair.

A man came out of the carriage, wrapped in thick clothes, and the cold wind kept blowing towards his body from all directions. The man could not help but shiver.

He looked at the scholar, "Mr. Guo, are we still unable to enter the city?"

The person who got off the car was none other than Wang Shiliang, the former governor of Yuzhou in Qi State.

As for the scholar, it was Guo En who successfully persuaded him to surrender.

Guo En shook his head, "I can't get in."

After accepting the surrender of Yuzhou, Quan Jingxuan sent Guo En to take the governor, Beijia and other senior officials away from the battlefield and return to Chang'an as quickly as possible in order to ensure that the results would not be lost in the subsequent battles.

Facts proved that his consideration was indeed correct. Shortly after he sent away these prisoners of war, Yang Yu was defeated, which made Quan Jingxuan dare not go north to join the forces easily and continued to wait and see the situation.

Wang Shiliang and others traveled day and night, wanting to return to Chang'an as quickly as possible.

The road to the Pseudo-Zhou was quite flat, and there were post stations along the way for them to rest. It was not bad at first. Although they were a little tired from the journey, they felt very safe when walking.

This situation continued until they entered Xiyang County.

When they arrived at Xiyang County, the peaceful atmosphere was gone forever. The gates of the three cities in the county were all closed and no one was allowed to enter.

The soldiers in the city had already rushed to Chang'an to rescue the emperor, and the remaining defenders were ordered that no one could come in unless the Duke of Jin came in person.

It was also here that they learned a very terrible news.

General Wei of Qi and King of Pingcheng Liu Taozi was about to attack Chang'an.

Everyone was terrified and wanted to go back, but they found that the Nanyang soldiers had destroyed the road and there were chaos due to panic. They had no choice but to keep moving forward, hoping to enter Chang'an as soon as possible, or find a city that could accept them.

I came to Luozhou like this, but I never expected that the situation here is even more critical.

Wang Shiliang's eyes were filled with fear. He asked, "What if we go west?"

"Or find a place to hide first?"

Guo En stood up and pulled himself together.

"My lord, don't be afraid."

"These people have been living in the mainland for a long time and have not experienced war for a long time. They were scared to death by Liu Taozi!"

"Even if Liu Taozi takes Huizhou, there are still many cities and garrisons along the way. It is impossible for him to just attack Chang'an."

"Besides, this place is still south of Chang'an. Even if Liu Taozi came to Chang'an, he would not go this way!"

Guo En said disdainfully: "Don't be intimidated by these people. If it doesn't work, we will find a village first, and wait until the situation in Chang'an stabilizes, and then we will continue on our way."

Wang Shiliang nodded, and Guo En let him get on the car. He then ordered the knights to form a battle line and protect everyone from leaving here.

Wang Shiliang walked into the carriage and Xu Biejia sat opposite him.

Wang Shiliang had many family members who all needed carriages, and Xu Biejia was not in good health and could not ride a horse, so he had to ride in the same carriage with him.

Wang Shiliang looked at him and asked in a low voice: "There are many things that are not going well on this trip. Is this against the will of heaven?"

Xu Biejia shook his head. "Internal and external troubles, surrender and change of master, has existed since ancient times. It is not good to talk about justice. It is just to lure and kill loyal and righteous people to please the enemy. This is a conscienceless act."

Wang Shiliang's face turned dark.

Xu Biejia sat quietly in the car, and there was not much awe in his eyes when facing his old superior.

Ever since he left Yuzhou and had been running wildly, his health had been getting worse and worse. Xu Biejia felt that this might be the retribution for betraying his colleagues.

His health was getting worse and worse, and he didn't know whether he could reach Chang'an alive. His family was far away in Yecheng, but Xu Biejia had no worries.

Wang Shiliang looked at him with cold eyes.

"Zengzi said: When a man is about to die, his words are good. Now I see that he who speaks well is a gentleman."

"When a villain is about to die, his true colors will be revealed. I despise him."

Xu Biejia smiled and wanted to say something, but then he started coughing again.

At this moment, war drums suddenly sounded on the distant city wall, and the defenders became panicked in an instant, and they shot arrows towards the north.

Wang Shiliang was horrified and quickly stuck his head out, "What's wrong?!"

Guo En's eyes widened, and he was also very frightened at this moment.

"I don't know! I don't know!"

"Thieves?! Insurgents?!"

“Retreat!! Retreat!!”

The knights quickly protected everyone and evacuated them, and Guo En led two knights to observe.

On the plain in the distance, a large flag with the word "Liu" fluttered in the wind, and fully armed knights were galloping towards them. Even under such a fast charge, they were still able to maintain their formation intact without any disorder.

Something seemed to explode in Guo En's mind.

His face turned pale in an instant.

"Liu Liu. Liu Taozi!"

"run!!"

At this moment, everyone quickly began to flee.

Many people heard Guo En's words, and an officer shouted at everyone to speed up.

The carriage was galloping away, Wang Shiliang held on tightly to steady himself, and was almost thrown out by the carriage. Xu Biejia didn't care and loosened his hands. The carriage was shaking violently, and his body was shaking with it, sometimes leaning forward, sometimes lying on his side. He couldn't help laughing.

"Lord, this is our retribution."

"Even if we drove him out, we shouldn't have killed him."

Wang Shiliang no longer had the strength to refute. His face was filled with fear. He clutched the left handrail tightly and trembled all over.

Guo En ran away madly, still constantly observing the back.

The horrible thing still happened.

The cavalry did not attack the city. Instead, they circled outside the city and chased in their direction.

The scouts at the front had even begun aiming their bows at them.

Guo En was horrified. He looked at the people around him and reined in his horse. He said, "General Quan entrusted me with an important task. I cannot fail you!"

"General Rukou, you lead the prince and the others to seek refuge somewhere else. Remember, you must protect the prince at all costs. He cannot die!!"

Guo Enqiang suppressed the great fear in his heart and led more than 20 riders to take out bows, ready to shoot the enemy scouts and then lead them away.

The two sides just encountered each other.

"Swish swish~~"

The enemy scouts drew their bows and shot. Guo En couldn't even utter a second sentence as the bullet pierced his neck and he fell to the ground immediately.

The archery skills of these scouts were incredibly high. After a rain of arrows, few of them missed their targets. The remaining knights could only run to the north, trying to lure them away.

The scouts directly split their forces into two groups, with no intention of letting the enemy go.

A horse-drawn carriage cannot outrun a cavalryman.

As the scouts got closer and closer to the enemy and began to shoot with bows, the Zhou army completely collapsed.

Even the officers could not suppress them. The knights fled in all directions, and the carriages were abandoned behind.

Before the main army even came into direct contact, the scouts had already begun harvesting, and the carriages were forced to stop on the side of the road.

The groom knelt on the ground, raised his hands, and kept begging for mercy.

The cavalry slowly approached, and the two sides finally met.

Gao Changgong looked at the carriage in the distance in surprise, then looked at Liu Taozi beside him. Liu Taozi nodded, and Gao Changgong immediately rode his horse forward.

Arriving at the side of the carriage, Gao Changgong raised his lance and aimed it at the carriage.

"Come down!!"

The next moment, a pair of white and tender hands stretched out, "Don't do it! Don't do it!"

Then, the delicate-skinned Wang Shiliang walked out of the carriage. He looked at the masked man in front of him in horror, and became even more frightened. "Bai Bao. Bai Bao!"

"Anyone else?"

Gao Changgong questioned. Another person staggered out, it was Xu Biejia.

Gao Changgong narrowed his eyes and stared at Wang Shiliang. He felt that he looked familiar, as if he had seen him before, but he could not remember his identity.

This made Gao Changgong feel a little surprised. Why did the Zhou people look so familiar?
He asked tentatively: "Do you still recognize me?"

Wang Shiliang looked at his mask and shook his head slowly, "I really don't know."

As soon as he opened his mouth like this, Gao Changgong could basically confirm that he was from Qi, as there was a big difference in accents between Zhou and Qi.

Gao Changgong slowly took off his mask and looked at the other person again.

Wang Shiliang's eyes lit up, "Your Majesty! It's Your Majesty!"

Then, he suddenly knelt on the ground and cried, "My lord, I never thought that I could still see you alive!"

"I was trapped in Yuzhou, with internal and external troubles. I was captured alive by the bandits. I thought I would never have the chance to return to Qi in this lifetime."

Gao Changgong recognized the other person immediately!

Yuzhou Governor Wang Shiliang!!

He frowned, "Yuzhou fell?"

"It's not just Yuzhou, there's also Yongzhou. Your Majesty, you don't know that Quan Jingxuan led 650,000 elite soldiers of the Pseudo-Zhou Army and many powerful generals. I was no match for him and fell into his hands."

Gao Changgong looked towards the south helplessly, his eyes full of worry, and he sighed.

"It is your blessing to meet us. I will take you to see King Pingcheng."

"well."

Wang Shiliang wiped his tears and stood up hurriedly. Xu Biejia said nothing, just looked at him coldly.

Gao Changgong led the two men to the front of the army.

The knights dismounted here to rest, eat dry food, and get water from the stream nearby.

Liu Taozi was holding the blue lion and stroking the mane of her beloved horse.

Seeing Gao Changgong coming back, he handed the green lion to the soldier beside him and looked at the newcomer majestically.

Seeing Liu Taozi, Wang Shiliang became more and more frightened.

Gao Changgong told Liu Taozi what Wang Shiliang had said truthfully.

Wang Shiliang listened to Gao Changgong carefully, and his eyes became gentle and clear when he looked at Liu Taozi.

"So you were captured after the defeat?"

"I"

Liu Taozi looked at the carriages and horses in the distance, "I have never seen such prisoners before. There are special officers leading so many knights to escort them, and even their families are not harmed."

Wang Shiliang hurriedly explained: "After I was captured, I had no choice but to surrender, but I didn't really mean it."

Liu Taozi looked at Gao Changgong standing aside and said seriously: "Changgong is concerned about state affairs, so he is easily deceived by such a villain. Look at him, he doesn't look like he has ever fought in a war, and his words are full of loopholes."

Gao Changgong was stunned and wanted to explain a few words, but Xu Biejia suddenly said, "Prince, forget it."

"Now that things have come to this, what else is there to cheat about?"

"Can such a thing be concealed? Even if you don't die now, won't you still die when you return to Qi?"

Wang Shiliang was shaking all over. He pointed at Xu Biejia and cursed: "It was this man! He opened the city gate and forced me to surrender!"

Xu Biejia coughed and looked at Liu Taozi, "Your Majesty, Wang Shiliang ordered his brother-in-law to secretly collude with the enemy, negotiated a price, and sold the entire Yuzhou. The city's chief official offended the Zhou envoy who came to persuade him to surrender, and was also killed by him."

“I’m involved, too.”

"Please punish me, Your Majesty."

Wang Shiliang was shaking all over and his speech was unclear. "What he said was all lies. I am... How could I be Taiyuan?"

The corner of Liu Taozi's left eye twitched, and a hint of ferocity flashed in his eyes. He slowly drew out the Gaowang Sword and walked in front of Wang Shiliang.

Wang Shiliang was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground and looked at Gao Changgong, "My lord, save me! Save me!!"

Gao Changgong was furious at the moment. "If you were defeated and captured, even if you surrendered, I would spare you. But you surrendered without a fight and betrayed your colleagues. How can I tolerate you?!"

Just as Wang Shiliang was about to speak, the sword flashed.

"Pfft~~"

Wang Shiliang's head flew up immediately. Liu Taozi stretched out his hand and caught his head directly. He then pointed to the carriages in the distance, and the soldiers immediately started killing people.

Liu Taozi then walked in front of Xu Biejia, and Xu Biejia closed his eyes.

"Pfft!"

Liu Taozi pierced the opponent's chest with a sword and then pulled it out.

Xu Biejia covered his chest in pain, staggered a few steps, and then fell to the ground. His face gradually became calm, and finally he stopped moving completely.

Gao Changgong felt a little sad at this moment.

"When I discussed the war with General Bao, he said: Officials from all over the country have long been alienated from the government and will surrender once the enemy attacks."

"I thought the old general was exaggerating, but now it seems that he is right. These governors have the strength to defend the city, but they surrendered easily."

"On the contrary, it was the Pseudo-Zhou side. We fought our way here, and I don't know how many people came to block us along the way. Each of them was trying to delay our march by dying."

"With such a comparison, could it be that Da Qi has really lost its destiny?!"

On the border, there are many sayings that the Great Qi has lost the Mandate of Heaven.

When the people of Youzhou went out to chop firewood, they met a white-haired old man who said to the well water in the distance: "When Qi is about to perish, the virtue of water will prosper."

In Yanzhou, someone picked up a stone with the words "The Saint Appears" written on it.

In Hengzhou and other places, there is a nursery rhyme: There are peaches in the garden and there is a king in the country.

Gao Changgong didn't quite believe all of this. He felt that Da Qi had not yet reached this point. But after arriving in the territory of Pseudo Zhou, Gao Changgong suddenly began to waver.

The gap between the two sides is not reflected in national strength, but in the people and officials.

Except for a few who relied on Yuwen Hu to rise to power, most of the Zhou officials behaved like human beings. Only a few did not behave like human beings.

Among Qi's officials, only a minority are capable of acting as human beings.

This is the best interpretation of destiny.

Looking at the worried Gao Changgong, Liu Taozi just looked into the distance. He didn't care about fate. He just wanted to do well what he had in hand.

"From the intercepted postman's letter, it seems that Yuwen Hu was the first to return. We can go north to Yichuan from here, rest near Huashan, and wait for Yuwen Hu to arrive."

Gao Changgong was still immersed in his own excessive thoughts.

"Chang Gong."

Liu Taozi spoke up, interrupting the other person's thoughts.

Gao Changgong woke up with a start, "Okay."

Liu Taozi's face was solemn. He looked into the distance. Under the afterglow of the setting sun, his profile seemed somewhat tragic.

"I don't know what destiny is."

"Kill more bad guys and protect more good guys. It will definitely be of some use."

Gao Changgong's heart gradually calmed down, "Zhizhi, Yuwen Hu probably has more than 10,000 elite cavalry under his command, can he defeat him?"

"Yuwen Hu doesn't understand warfare, so what if he has 100,000 elite cavalry?"

"it is good!"

"I want to be a pioneer!"

Liu Taozi took a brief rest and then headed north again. His route was no route. After leaving Chang'an, he began to charge back and forth in the enemy's hinterland, defeating the Zhou defenders several times during the attack.

The Zhou people were completely confused about his route. At first they thought this guy was heading for Chang'an, but now, this guy began to rush back and forth in the hinterland. Sometimes he directly divided his troops with Gao Changgong, resulting in two different regions, causing panic among people everywhere.

They did not take the official road again, but took the Yichuan Road, bypassing the thread line directly, passing the Shuguan Pass and heading to Huashan County.

The military force in Huashan County was quite insufficient, and the troops here were the first to go to Chang'an for support.

There was some light snow on the ground, making the whole ground a little muddy.

In the distance is a large peach orchard.

It is said that this peach forest has existed for a very long time, but in this cold winter, the peach forest no longer looks like it did before, and it looks particularly bleak, with branches sharp and withered.

The knights rested here.

Liu Taozi sat in front of the peach tree, eating dry food, while Gao Changgong sat beside him, looking at the surrounding peach forest with a smile.

"Peach Forest, could it be that the peaches are a sign that Zhizhi will accomplish great things here?"

"Peaches can drive away ghosts."

"This is a place to kill ghosts and suppress evil, so you should obey my wishes."

As Liu Taozi spoke, the knights around him laughed.

After experiencing dozens of victories, the knights' morale and combat effectiveness have reached a terrifying level, just like the troops that followed Yang Zhong to the outskirts of Jinyang. Nothing can scare them anymore.

They stayed here, waiting for the enemy to appear earlier.

(End of this chapter)