Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 447 Go straight to Chang'an!

Lingzhou.

Gao Changgong led only more than 30 cavalrymen and stood on the official road.

Xiao Wu stood nervously aside, looking at Gao Changgong, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

He had grown a lot taller, and now was wearing light armor and holding a long weapon, and had become one of Gao Changgong's personal soldiers.

Gao Changgong narrowed his eyes, rode his horse forward for a distance, raised his head and looked at the sky. Logically, he should have arrived, right?

Liu Wu took a deep breath and made himself look more resolute.

The guards on the side were chatting, "Is the Heavenly King really going to come in person?"

"Shut up! This can't get out!"

"There's no one else here, can I still say these words to others?"

"By the way, have you all ever seen the King of Heaven? I haven't even seen him yet!"

"I have seen him, I have seen him. He looks like a god and has four eyebrows."

"laugh"

Liu Wu couldn't hold it in any longer. The determination on his face suddenly disappeared and he lowered his head and smiled.

The old soldier who had just spoken was a little unhappy, "Xiao Wu, what do you mean? I once fought with the Heavenly King. How could I lie to you?"

"He has four eyebrows, eyes within eyes, and ribs within ribs."

Xiao Wu felt very uncomfortable and covered his face with his hands, but he could still hear the laughter.

The old soldier glared at him.

When Zhang Wu first arrived, everyone was a little frightened, just because this guy was too young and looked very close to the commander. They all guessed that he was the commander's younger brother or something. This guy was also very arrogant when he first arrived. He always liked to brag, saying nonsense like his brother's bravery surpassed Gao Changgong, and he always had a contemptuous attitude towards everyone, which caused everyone to dislike him. Later, because of a quarrel, everyone couldn't help but beat him up.

This guy went to Gao Changgong to cry and complain, and everyone thought that he was doomed. Unexpectedly, the commander ignored him and scolded him instead.

Only then did everyone realize that he had no one to back him.

The boy has been much more well-behaved since then. After so much time has passed, he has become familiar with everyone and no longer has the petty quarrels he used to have.

"Xiao Wu! You've been laughing at me since just now! You don't believe it, right?"

"There are eyes inside the eyes, and ribs under the ribs. Is that still a human being?"

Xiao Wu asked back.

"What do you know! Your Majesty is a celestial being. A celestial being must have a celestial appearance. He is born different from other people."

"I've seen him."

Xiao Wu spoke up.

The old soldier snorted, "Keep bragging. Now you're not bragging about your brother anymore, you're bragging about yourself now?"

"I have really seen him. Your Majesty is a little taller, a little stronger, and a little colder than the average person, but there is nothing else that makes him different."

Xiao Wu told the story seriously.

But no one believed it.

Xiao Wu raised his head slightly and said, "If you don't believe it, forget it."

It was not until Gao Changgong turned around that they hurriedly stopped talking and returned to their original elite appearance.

After waiting for a long time, the sound of horse hooves was finally heard in the distance.

Gao Changgong was overjoyed, and soon a cavalry unit came galloping towards here.

The bodyguards perked up, rode their horses, stood guard on both sides, and kept their eyes straight ahead.

"His Majesty!!"

"Chang Gong."

They saw King Liu meeting Gao Changgong, and the other generals were also meeting each other. They were talking about something. The personal soldiers were very curious, but did not dare to look.

They were chatting animatedly, whispering something, and then walked towards the direction of the city.

They passed by them, and the knights straightened their backs quickly, Xiao Wu was among them.

Liu Taozi's eyes subconsciously swept over Xiao Wu, but she didn't say anything, nor did she look at him any more. She just followed Gao Changgong.

Instead, Zu Ting was a little surprised when he saw Xiao Wu and smiled at him.

Only after this group of people passed by did they change their formation and follow them from a distance.

The old soldier just now said tremblingly: "The emperor seemed to look at us just now. Yes, and that Zu Shizhong, did he even smile?"

Xiao Wu smiled and asked, "How is it? Am I right?"

"I just saw it, I saw it, it's just as old Heba said, four eyebrows! Four eyes!"

"Yep!"

Xiao Wu's eyes widened. "You guys... Oh, forget it, four is enough."

They returned to the city gate together. The rest of the army was not allowed to enter the city, but they, as personal soldiers, could go in. They came all the way to the gate of the government office and stood guard at various places. The king and many generals and ministers were inside.

Xiao Wu stood outside fully armed. During these days, Gao Changgong did not treat him as the emperor's brother at all, but just as an ordinary pawn.

He received all the suffering he deserved, and neither did he suffer the beatings he deserved.

However, because of this, his transformation was very fast, and he had completely blended in with these low-level soldiers. Apart from their ages, there was not much difference between them.

Several people were guarding the door, but after a long time, the person inside still didn't come out.

The sky was beginning to darken, but since the commander would not come out, they could only continue to stay here.

"The Heavenly King is here this time. Could it be that he is going to lead us to war again?"

"That's great! It's a good time to make achievements again!"

Everyone was talking about it.

After a long time, Gao Changgong finally came out. Everyone hurriedly saluted. Gao Changgong glanced at them and said, "Xiao Wu, you go in and wait. If the king of heaven needs to see me, you will be responsible for the communication."

"only!!"

Gao Changgong took the lead and left.

The other veterans looked at Xiao Wu with envy, and someone encouraged him with his eyes.

Everyone left one after another.

Xiao Wu smiled and walked quickly into the yard.

Sure enough, Zu Ting had been waiting here for a long time. He walked up with a smile and took Xiao Wu into the house.

There were only Liu Taozi and Shi Wansui in the room.

There were many maps placed in front of them, and it was obvious that they were discussing military matters just now.

Seeing Xiao Wu coming in, Zu Ting and Shi Wansui said goodbye and left.

There were only two brothers left in the house.

Liu Taozi looked Xiao Wu up and down.

"Yes, finally there is no more so-called nobility."

"Brother."

Liu Wu looked at Liu Taozi, his eyes became red and filled with tears.

Liu Taozi's solemn face softened a lot in an instant.

"Sit down."

Liu Wu sat next to his brother.

"How is it, are you used to it?"

“It was very uncomfortable at first, but now I’m used to it.”

The two brothers exchanged pleasantries, Xiao Wu asked about the situation at home, and Liu Taozi answered one by one. The two talked for a long time. Xiao Wu had many things to tell his brother. Liu Taozi came from afar, and although he was a little tired, he still listened to his brother's story very seriously.

Xiao Wu suddenly remembered something, "Brother, I have something I want to ask you for help."

"Oh?"

Liu Taozi stared at him, "What's the matter?"

"He is a good friend of mine, who is also in the army. He was originally from Zhou, but after he defected here, he was separated from his family, so he was first registered as a military household. As a result, his family was also in Han territory, and they were also registered as separate households, so they had two households. His father, wife, and son were in separate households. They wanted to merge, but they said that military households did not belong to the local area. They refused from both sides. The taxes and corvée were counted as two households, which made him very helpless. He was not a personal soldier, but a small soldier who guarded the city gate. We used to watch the gate together. He was a dull person, and he did not dare to tell his superiors, so he complained to us."

Liu Taozi's eyes softened again.

"Okay, I understand. Please write down your name and household registration, and I will ask someone to do it."

"Thank you, brother!"

Liu Taozi nodded.

After Xiao Wu left, Shi Wansui, who was guarding the door, came in again.

Then I heard Liu Taozi looking at the document in her hand and a smile appeared on her face.

"The boy can do it."

The next day, the army set out.

Gao Changgong and Huluxian are now in charge of the military affairs of the two states. Gao Changgong is nominally the "Governor of Lingzhou", and he is in charge of both military and government affairs. The main reason is that the location here is special and the situation is complicated. Gao Changgong is good at both, so he was allowed to do it as an exception.

As for Xiazhou, Huluxian was in charge of military affairs.

These two people were responsible for the entire Han war zone north of Chang'an.

When Liu Taozi and his men arrived here, they joined forces with Huluxian's Xiazhou soldiers, and their strength had reached the point where they could launch a tentative attack.

The first step is to kill the general guarding Yanzhou, Da Xi Zhen.

Da Xi Zhen was the son of Da Xi Wu.

He is not a young general. Da Xiwu died in his seventies, and his son is already in his forties this year. He is not young at all.

However, although he is not young, he has not participated in many wars, and his personality is much more hot-tempered than his father.

The three generals gathered together and began to discuss the war against Yanzhou.

Gao Changgong's idea was the simplest. After the previous war, Yanzhou was in ruins and had no strategic location to defend. As long as he made a move to head straight for Chang'an, Da Xi Zhen would certainly send troops to fight. At that time, he could give full play to his advantages, defeat the enemy's main force in a field battle, and then go south to Wuxiang and take Chang'an directly!
But Huluxian thought differently. He believed that Da Xizhen was the bravest among the three armies and treated people around him with kindness, which won him great popularity. The soldiers were willing to follow him to fight to the death.

We cannot underestimate the other party. If we pass through his territory so brazenly, if something goes wrong and we are defeated by this person, then this attack on Chang'an will be in vain.

Huluxian thought that the main army could be kept out for the time being, and he could just lead the troops to attack the enemy's front-line sentry towers and defense areas, attract Da Xi Zhen to fight, and then lead him out of Yanzhou and fight at the border between Xiazhou and Yanzhou, instead of engaging him in battle in Yanzhou.

Speaking of which, compared to Gao Changgong's brutal method of forcing people out, Huluxian's method was more convincing to Liu Taozi.

Liu Taozi decided to adopt Huluxian's suggestion.

There were more than 5,000 cavalrymen, including their horsemen, the number was over 10,000. After they left Xiazhou, Liu Taozi and Gao Changgong did not go too far ahead. They sent out many scouts and concealed their presence.

Huluxian only went there with his own troops.

The two sides had had many frictions in the past. Since both of them took office, they often led their troops to destroy each other's defense lines.

Da Xi Zhen's father was killed by Hulu Xian's brother, and the two had a deep hatred. After Da Xi Zhen came, he had been leading elite cavalry to attack Hulu Xian's defense area. Hulu Xian was not polite either. He set ambushes several times and almost shot Da Xi Zhen to death once.

This time, Huluxian took the initiative to provoke. He attacked the frontier camps of Yanzhou, killed the soldiers stationed there, stole the food and grass, and burned the camps.

Da Xi Zhen naturally learned about this matter very quickly.

Da Xi Zhen was furious and immediately led his troops to pursue and kill him.

Some deputy generals tried to persuade him, saying that they felt that Huluxian was a very well-behaved person in normal times, and was passively defensive most of the time, rarely launching such aggressive attacks, so they were afraid that he had ulterior motives.

Da Xi Zhen was very disdainful. How could a descendant of a loyal and righteous man be bullied by such a vicious villain?
He insisted on leading the troops there.

The two sides met in the desert outside Yanzhou, and after a bloody battle, Huluxian was defeated and retreated.

Da Xi Zhen was indeed brave. In terms of martial strength, Huluxian was weaker than him and could not stop him. Da Xi Zhen selected elite cavalry and broke through Huluxian's defense line. Huluxian did not want to fight either. He dropped the loot and turned around to run away.

Da Xi Zhen was very proud when he saw this, and ordered his men to capture Hulu Xian alive.

Just after he chased for dozens of miles, he saw Liu Taozi and Gao Changgong's well-prepared army.

Even at this point, Da Xi Zhen was not panicked.

They quickly slowed down and formed a formation.

Da Xi Zhen had a lot of soldiers under his command. Since there were no dangerous places in Yanzhou, Yuwen Yong deliberately gave him a lot of troops so that he could make up for it with his numerical advantage.

The combined number of Liu Taozi and Gao Changgong's armies was not much greater than that of Da Xi Zhen.

At Liu Taozi's command, the two sides began a bloody battle in this vast sea of ​​sand.

This area is almost uninhabited.

All the way from Yanzhou to Xiazhou, there are few villages and no people in between. There are probably not even many animals to be found here.

The cavalry on both sides were ready and launched a charge.

The entire wilderness was filled with rolling dust, and the whole world turned yellow.

The two sides began to fight.

At first, Da Xi Zhen only thought that the soldiers from Lingzhou and Xiazhou were joining forces to weaken him.

After all, in recent days, Da Xi Zhen has always relied on his large number of soldiers to bully Hulu Xian. It is understandable that the enemy wants to weaken himself and preserve his territory.

However, after the actual fight, Da Xi Zhen realized that something was wrong!

Behind the Lingzhou and Xiazhou soldiers, there was a cavalry unit. This cavalry unit had a very high armor rate, which was far beyond the reach of the Lingzhou and Xiazhou soldiers. Their combat power was amazing. After careful observation, Da Xi Zhen was suddenly shocked. Could it be the gibbon cavalry led by Liu Taozi?

The cavalry of both sides fought in the field here, the sound of killing shook the sky, Da Xizhen rushed in all directions, and his bravery boosted the morale of his subordinates.

"You bastard! Die!"

Gao Changgong came running and stabbed Da Xi Zhen with his spear.

Da Xi Zhen was not angry but happy. If he could kill Gao Changgong, the battle situation would immediately be in his favor!
The two men rushed over and collided with each other.

Whenever Gao Changgong went into battle, he would change from his usual gentle and generous self to become extremely irritable, turning from a gentleman of the Gao family into a madman of the Gao family.

Before Da Xi Zhen had a chance to show his strength, he was suppressed and beaten by Gao Changgong.

Gao Changgong fought with great ferocity, not caring at all whether he would get hurt or not. He just wanted to die together with his opponent. For a moment, Da Xizhen was suppressed by him and could only defend himself. He did not dare to fight back at all.

After the main general was delayed, the Han cavalry began to intersperse. After several intersperses by the knights, the Zhou cavalry was divided into several different formations, with enemies everywhere in front, behind, left and right, and the casualties became increasingly heavy.

Da Xi Zhen had lost his fighting spirit. Looking at the sudden increase in the casualty rate among his subordinates, he only wanted to withdraw from the battlefield first.

However, Gao Changgong refused to give in.

There were several arrows stuck in Gao Changgong's armor, but he didn't care at all.

Da Xi was so angry that he was in a state of panic.

At this moment, the baboon cavalry attacked again from both sides. Da Xi Zhen's personal soldiers were stabbed by spears one after another and kept falling down. They attacked Da Xi Zhen directly.

Da Xi Zhen was shocked and shouted loudly, just as he was about to stop the charging baboon riders, Gao Changgong took the opportunity to stab again, his spear piercing directly into Da Xi Zhen's abdomen. Da Xi Zhen screamed and fell off the horse in pain.

Gao Changgong shouted loudly.

"Da Xi Zhen is dead!! Da Xi Zhen is dead!!"

The Zhou army was shocked and the surrounding cavalry began to flee. Gao Changgong led his own army in pursuit.

When the war was completely over, the corpses of people and horses were everywhere.

Some war horses lingered not far away, not daring to leave, nor to get closer.

Da Xi Zhen's body was among these people. His eyes were wide open with disbelief.

Perhaps he didn't expect that he would die so suddenly.

Liu Taozi ordered his men to clean up the battlefield and then quickly march towards Yanzhou.

A lot of cavalry escaped just now, and they will definitely go back to report. What they need to do is to pass through Yanzhou and attack Chang'an before the enemy can react! !

(End of this chapter)