Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 331 Continuous Battles and Successful Victories
Daxian.

There was a continuous drizzle falling from the sky.

The knights galloped back and forth, chasing the deserters recklessly.

The ground was shaking and there were corpses everywhere.

General Fan Yi was riding a war horse, holding a lance, with scars all over his body and his armor deformed.

His face was covered in blood and he was looking around in shock.

Enemy cavalry were everywhere, and were now wantonly chasing and killing his own soldiers. His personal soldiers surrounded Fan Yi and pointed their spears outside.

Fan Yi didn't understand why this happened.

He was ordered to defeat the Qi army gathered here. These mobs had already lost their courage and were fleeing everywhere. They were not worth paying attention to at all.

Huang Fachi gave him 5,000 infantry and cavalry, of which there were only more than 400 cavalry.

When he was attacking the enemy camp with full confidence, the enemy camp was suddenly opened and a large number of cavalry rushed out.

This feeling is like forcing a rabbit into a hole in the ground, and then reaching out and grabbing a lion.

Fan Yi had no idea what was going on.

He just remembered that he gave the order to attack the city, and the next moment, the enemy cavalry launched a charge.

Fan Yi had never been hit by such a heavy punch, and he had never seen such ferocious cavalry. His 400-plus cavalrymen were like paper in front of the enemy's cavalry, and were wiped out in one fight.

Then they launched a fierce attack towards the central army. The man in the lead was like a demon, rushing left and right, invincible. He directly attacked Fan Yi, forcing Fan Yi to turn around and run.

Fan Yi is good at fighting, but force is his weakness.

The Southern soldiers had never seen such a charge before, and in just a moment, their formation was completely torn apart by the cavalry. These old soldiers resisted for a long time, but after all their officers were killed or wounded, they finally collapsed and began to flee. Once you start running away when fighting with cavalry, it is no different from committing suicide. Everyone ran and fled, but in the end they were caught up and killed by the cavalry.

Fan Yi was stunned, and in a daze, he realized that there were only a few of his thousands of men left.

The Qi people had such an army? ?
Why didn't they use such an army earlier?

Why did it fail so quickly before, and why did it only come out now?
Fan Yi had countless questions in his mind.

But he felt that he would not get the answer.

The fierce general in the distance had completed several moves, and after completely tearing down his defense line, he slowly came in front of him.

Liu Taozi stared at the general in the distance.

The general was also very young, with a confused look in his eyes, and it was obvious that he had never experienced being rushed in the face by cavalry.

He raised the lance in his hand and said, "Surrender and you won't be killed!"

Fan Yi suddenly woke up and looked at the soldiers on his left and right.

These bodyguards were very frightened and retreated repeatedly, not daring to get close.

Fan Yi drew his sword.

"It's my fault that I destroyed the army. How can I live in shame?!"

"what!!!"

"Pfft~~"

Fan Yi let out a long roar, the sword in his hand flashed, blood spurted out from his neck, and he fell heavily from his horse.

His personal soldiers surrounded him, hugged his body and cried bitterly.

Liu Taozi frowned and put down his lance.

He looked at his personal soldiers and whispered, "You guys, go and return his body to Huang Fate."

The Qi army was cleaning up the battlefield and the cavalry were resting.

Outside the camp, General Changsun Honglue of Qi, who had just been defeated by Huang Fachi several times, was standing beside Liu Taozi, bowing his head.

Zhangsun Honglue came from the Yangzhou Daoxingtai as a vanguard to attack Huang Fachi and try to repel him.

Unfortunately, he was no match for Huang Fachi. The two sides fought in Liyang, and Huang Fachi directly defeated his army, causing him to completely collapse. He failed to save the city and almost died himself.

Fortunately, Changsun Honglue ran fast enough. He escaped to Daxian and was ready to run to Nanqiaozhou to see if he could get appropriate reinforcements.

But he never expected that the general would appear here! !
When he learned the news of Fan Yi's attack, he trembled with fear.

This Fan Yi was the one who defeated him head-on. Huang Fachi used Fan Yi as the vanguard and easily dismantled his formation, making it impossible for his army to coordinate from the front and back, and ultimately leading to a miserable defeat.

But Liu Taozi suddenly appeared with his troops in the rear, making Changsun Honglue so excited that he wanted to cry.

Thinking of how he had slandered the general when he was in office, Changsun Honglue wanted to slap himself a few times.

What the hell is this traitor? This guy is clearly the best general of our Great Qi! !
He stared into the distance fiercely, "What a pity for Fan Yi, the bastard. The general should chop off his head and distribute it to the three armies to boost morale!!"

Liu Taozi shook her head. "That's not necessary."

Liu Taozi is not a soft-hearted person. When facing enemies, he will not hesitate to behead them, just like Yang Zhong did in the past.

However, if there was no need to boost morale, he would not easily humiliate the enemy's corpse.

When they were in Lingzhou, the army had suffered heavy casualties and was in urgent need of boosting morale. Yang Zhong's head could excite the entire army.

The current mandrill camp obviously does not need such methods to boost morale.

The morale of the Mandrill Camp was already high when they attacked Chang'an!!!

Zhang Sun Honglue hurriedly said with a smile: "General, you are kind and righteous!!"

Shi Wansui, who was standing behind Liu Taozi, glared at him with disdain and said, "When General Wang followed our grandfather to leave the Yangzhou Daoxingtai, you were the one who said 'a traitorous general, a traitor to the country, a wolf in sheep's clothing, not worth mentioning', right? Why don't you seem so tough today?"

Changsun Honglue's face changed drastically.

He looked at Liu Taozi in horror and explained hastily: "General!! These are all rumors! At the beginning, I was instigated by villains. This is a rumor spread by others."

He thought that Liu Taozi and others didn't know about this, but he didn't expect it to be exposed like this.

Liu Taozi didn't care much about these things. He looked at Changsun Honglue and said, "Don't stay here. Lead the troops to evacuate quickly."

"Huang Fachu's army will arrive soon. You are no match for him."

"What about the general?"

"If the two of us join forces, we may not be afraid of him. Huang Fachu, I am willing to be the general's vanguard."

"No need, just lead the troops back."

"Go and meet up with Lu Qian and the others, and tell them not to send out troops. Keep the troops in Hefei. No matter what Huang Fachi does, don't attack. What Huang Fachi hopes most now is that they can take the initiative to attack."

"As long as you can all stay in Hefei together, Huang Fachu will not be easily captured, and the war can be won."

Zhang Sun Honglue immediately lowered his head, "Yes!!"

Liu Taozi quickly led the knights away from here, and Shi Wansui followed behind him, never leaving.

When leaving Gwangju, Zu Ting asked him to swear that he would protect the general's safety at all costs and never let anything happen to him.

Wang Lin was counting the results of the battle from a distance at this moment. When he saw Liu Taozi coming, he hurriedly mounted his horse.

Wang Lin was brought to Liu Taozi's side. Wang Lin had been in Lianghuai for many years and was very familiar with both his own people and the Chen people. He was the best guide and the guarantee for Liu Taozi to lead the cavalry around.

A special treasure for use against the people of Chen.

With such a living map and a know-it-all, Liu Taozi has the confidence to continue dealing with the enemy.

"Thanks to the prince, Fan Yi was defeated again this time. Huang Fachi can no longer take Hefei easily."

Wang Lin stared at Liu Taozi.

He had never seen anyone who could use cavalry to such an extent. Was this a true famous general? ?

He followed Liu Taozi to the south. Along the way, whether it was controlling the marching speed, judging the time of arrival, analyzing the enemy's status, predicting casualties, and even the timing of the attack, he almost scored full marks.

Wang Lin had led an army of 100,000 in the past, and like Liu Taozi, he had also sidelined the emperor and served as a local lord.

Therefore, although he surrendered to Liu Taozi, he still had some pride in his heart.

He felt that his initial defeat was only due to a sudden change in the wind that was unfavorable to him. In terms of fighting, he was not necessarily weaker than Liu Taozi.

But after experiencing the war this time, Wang Lin instantly understood the gap between them.

Let's not talk about anything else. Just talking about leading the cavalry in battle, there was at least a gap of three yellow magic 氱 between him and me! Shi Wansui coughed lightly a few times, and Wang Lin realized that he had lost his composure and hurriedly lowered his head.

"It's because the lord is a god in commanding troops."

"After three consecutive big wins, I think the situation will change dramatically."

Liu Taozi turned around and signaled everyone to follow her. They began to leave here slowly at a slower pace. They were heading east.

Liu Taozi rode on Black Wind and said solemnly: "Generals Xu, Huang, and Wu are all powerful enemies. Although we burned Wu Mingche's food supplies, killed their generals, and annihilated more than 10,000 people, we did not hurt them at all."

"Wu Mingche is too close to Jiankang, and the southerners have no shortage of food and fodder. He has withdrawn his troops and stationed them in Jiangpu. He will not easily go out to fight until food and fodder arrive, and he will not give us any chance to attack."

"When Huang Fachu learned that his subordinates were killed, he would certainly act cautiously and keep an eye on our actions at all times. He would not easily give us a chance."

Wang Lin thought thoughtfully, "It seems that the only way to defeat the enemy is to go west to join Lou Rui, first defeat the weaker Xu Du, and then go south to face the two generals?"

The reason why Wang Lin was uncertain was that they were now heading east.

Obviously, Liu Taozi's ideas were somewhat different from his.

But in Wang Lin's opinion, facing such a powerful enemy, there is only one solution at the moment, which is to have more cavalry.

The armies in various places in the south are all rubbish. Even if they can gather 100,000 or 200,000 men, they will only be sending the Chen people to their deaths.

Just like Changsun Honglue just now, he led 50,000 troops to fight the enemy, but ended up being killed and only more than 10,000 people were left, fleeing everywhere.

These county soldiers cannot be regarded as human beings at all. The only combat-capable forces in the south are the thousands of elite troops under Lou Rui.

These are the troops that Lou Rui brought out from Yecheng. They are very capable in fighting.

If they could join forces with them, the force would be over ten thousand, and there would be no need to worry too much about their combat effectiveness. If they fought against several generals separately, Wang Lin felt there was still hope of winning.

Liu Taozi said calmly: "If we had come to join him at the beginning, maybe it would have worked, but now we have been exposed, the enemy can't help but be on guard, they will definitely not allow us to join Lou Rui."

"The roads along the way will be blocked by Huang Fachi and Xu Du. If we want to bypass Hefei, the enemy will have time to gather their forces. By then, even if we have more than 10,000 people, how can we fight against an army of more than 100,000?"

Wang Lin was stunned and fell into deep thought.

What Liu Taozi said made a lot of sense, and he couldn't think of a solution for a while.

"General, what are we doing?"

Liu Taozi looked into the distance and said, "The strength of cavalry lies first in its speed."

He looked at the sky, "How many days has this rain been going on?"

Wang Lin shuddered, "It's been four or five days."

"Wu Mingche's army is stationed at Jiangpukou, which was formerly Guabu."

"General Wang took this route when he first came out, right?"

"General, you mean Chushui?"

"The Chushui River flows eastward, passes Qin County, and flows southward into the Yangtze River."

"Guabu is located in a very low terrain. It is backed by mountains on one side, rivers on the other, and Chushui River on the other side."

Hearing this, Wang Lin instantly understood what Liu Taozi meant. He instantly became excited and rubbed his hands, "Yes! Yes! It's the rainy season now. If we can flood the city with the Chu River, what can Wu Mingche do even if he has tens of thousands of troops?!"

"The general is wise!!"

"When did the general think of this?!"

"When I first heard you describe how you got here, I thought this place could be flooded."

Wang Lin took a deep breath, clenched his fists several times, and looked at Liu Taozi with increasingly complicated eyes.

Is this what a famous general is?

Liu Taozi looked at Wang Lin and said, "Lord Wang, I have never fought in the south, and I don't know anything about diverting water. Wu Mingche has been in the south for a long time, and I'm afraid he will be alert. I wonder if you can help me complete this task?"

Wang Lin laughed loudly, "My lord, if you trust me so much, how can I not obey you?"

He immediately said: "It is impossible to destroy the dam. Wu Mingche will definitely send people to guard it. It is impossible to block the downstream and make the water flow back. The downstream is too close to Wu Mingche."

"So we can only adopt the third method, which is to build a dam upstream, build it bit by bit, accumulate water upstream, and then suddenly destroy it, so that the Chu River can flood the enemy's camp!!"

"It's all up to the prince."

Wang Lin received the order and immediately walked in front as a guide. He had traveled on the Chushui River countless times, and no one knew better than him where was the most suitable place to build a dam.

They continued to march for another ten miles until they reached a place where the water was flowing fastest. Wang Lin then asked everyone to stop. Then, he asked the soldiers to cut down trees in the surrounding area, take soil to make mud, and carry out simple embankment operations.

This matter is simple to say, but it is actually very complicated to do.

There are many things that need to be calculated, such as how to avoid being washed away by the accumulated water, how to build it up gradually without completely cutting off the water flow so that people downstream can easily find it, how to leave a lead that can be quickly demolished, and so on.

Wang Lin was shirtless, revealing his strong muscles.

He lowered his head, rolled up his lower garment, and walked into the water holding the wood himself. The soldiers were hammering the wood into the water, while Wang Lin was calculating something as he walked, muttering to himself.

The older Wang Lin showed no signs of aging at this moment. He was more enthusiastic than those soldiers. He walked around, sometimes went into the water, and then suddenly came ashore.

There were several military officers who were holding papers and pens, and were constantly taking notes after Wang Lin's dictation.

Wang Lin climbed to a high place several times to check the water level in the distance.

From beginning to end, Liu Taozi has always been by his side. When Wang Lin finishes something, Liu Taozi will humbly ask him for advice.

Wang Lin certainly had nothing to hide. This former lord no longer acted pretentiously and directly mingled with the "Northern Hu" in the Mandrill Camp. "My lord, these wooden stakes are the most effective. Usually there is one stake every twelve steps, and then the water flow is used to calculate, gradually increasing. It mainly depends on the water. Different water has different requirements. When I was in the south."

Wang Lin talked eloquently and Liu Taozi listened very attentively.

"The flow of water follows certain rules, and we can even judge it by the fish in the water, just like the Chu River, my lord, look."

Everyone was busy. Wang Lin worked while talking. Liu Taozi was no exception. He followed Wang Lin's example, took off his shirt, and started to follow the soldiers to repair the dam.

This continued until night.

Everyone rested here.

The stars in the sky are exceptionally bright, brighter than ever before.

Wang Lin sat in front of the campfire, warming himself, his clothes in disarray.

Looking at the flames in front of him, Wang Lin couldn't help but shiver again.

Liu Taozi and Shi Wansui sat opposite him and on his left respectively.

"The prince seems to be afraid of fire?"

Shi Wansui suddenly asked.

Wang Lin pursed her lips, her eyes gradually becoming sad. Liu Taozi shook her head at Shi Wansui, who lowered his head hastily, "I was talking too much."

"No problem."

"Back then, I led an army of 100,000 to fight against the Chen people. At that time, my men were all elite soldiers and generals. I defeated powerful enemies several times in a row. I had eight large ships alone!"

A smile appeared on Wang Lin's face.

"At that time, the people of Chen were so frightened when they heard my name that they fled away and did not dare to fight me."

"Hou Andu, Zhou Wenyu, Xu Du, Wu Mingche, Huang Facchus, they were all defeated by me"

"I once deployed a hundred thousand troops on the water and told my subordinates, what was Wen Taizhen then?"

“I remember it was a southwest wind.”

"At night, a strong northeast wind suddenly blew up, and my ships were destroyed and stranded on the beach, unable to return."

"I could only retreat. Later, I attacked again. I remember that the wind was blowing from the southwest. I thought I had divine help and attacked with all my strength. Who could have imagined that the enemy would appear behind me and attack with fire, burning my own ship."

"The soldiers are no longer willing to follow me."

"I fled to Qi like a lost dog."

The wind suddenly blew, and Wang Lin looked up at the sky blankly again.

Shi Wansui looked at the depressing atmosphere and suddenly said, "Prince, please don't be sad. If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely avenge you!!"

(End of this chapter)