Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 480: Traitor!

Linzhou.

“Qua~~”

The cry of an evil bird suddenly rang out, and it flapped its wings from the dense forest and flew away into the distance.

The river in the distance was flowing rapidly, and under the influence of the high and low terrain, it formed one terrible whirlpool after another, and the sound of the waves could be heard from far away.

On both sides of the river are two straight cliffs.

The cliff is quite high, overlooking the river.

Both sides of the river were covered with lush greenery. Trees that had grown for who knows how many years were intertwined with each other, completely blocking all views.

The dense forests here even reveal a sense of primitive vicissitudes and a smell of decay.

There was a thick layer of debris on the ground, and the trees were connected to each other like a cage.

"Snapped!!"

With a slight sound, the branches that blocked the road were cut off. A sharp knife stretched out from the dense forest, cut off the branches in front of it, and quickly chopped out a passable path.

Then, a dusty army slowly walked out from the gap.

As soon as they walked out, the soldiers who led the way couldn't help but take a deep breath, looked towards the sky, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Behind them, people came out one after another.

Their first reaction was to look up at the sun.

Nearly a hundred people passed by in this way, and a handsome man leading a horse also passed by here. The man was Gao Changgong.

Gao Changgong's mask was hanging around his waist at this moment. He led the horse and walked out of the dense forest. His complexion seemed to have improved a lot.

"Finally, we got out. The general has forged a path through time."

The generals following behind him sighed.

Gao Changgong did not answer, but just continued walking forward.

The soldiers were leading horses, some of which were carrying various things on their backs, and they passed by here tiredly.

The dense forest just now was really uncomfortable. It was so dark that no sunlight could be seen. It was like a green cage. It always gave people a suffocating feeling and made it hard to breathe.

But walking out of here does not mean that all the suffering is over, because what lies before them now is an extremely difficult mountain road.

The mountain road is very steep and it's scary just looking at it.

Some places are so narrow that it is doubtful whether one can get through. If one misses a step, one might fall into the river.

Everyone walked slowly and advanced cautiously.

They walked like this for another whole day, and when it was about to get dark, they finally found an open area. They could actually continue to move forward, but there was no suitable place to rest any further, so they could only rest here for the time being.

Everyone lit a bonfire and sat down. There were more than 3,000 soldiers, not a large number, but it was obvious that most of them were the elite among the elite.

Gao Changgong sat in front of the campfire, eating the dry biscuits in his hand, took out the map again, examined it carefully, and made some annotations.

"Go tell your subordinates that we will be able to get out of the mountain road and return to the official road in two days!"

The officers spread the word.

After being busy for a while, Gao Changgong finally fell asleep.

The next day, everyone got up early and Gao Changgong led them forward again.

This road becomes easier and easier as we go along.

At first the dense forests and mountain roads were really scary, but when the terrain became lower and the river became wider, the road was no longer as cruel as it was at the beginning. Everyone could finally ride forward on horseback, and the situation suddenly became clear.

A spacious road came into view, with lush forests on both sides. The road was flat and many wheel marks could be seen leading towards the city.

Gao Changgong asked the scouts to search everywhere, while he dismounted and carefully checked the road.

After checking for a long time, Gao Changgong finally stood up and squinted his eyes. "There is no sign of a large army passing through."

"Very good, everyone should not relax and follow me!"

Yuwen Yun was still on his way.

This road was truly hopeless. The bumps and jolts never stopped. Yuwen Yun had no appetite at all and could hardly sleep at night. He learned from time to time that his soldiers had defected, but he was powerless to do anything.

Fortunately, today, the road has finally become much wider.

The violent bumps are gone, and even the speed has increased a lot.

When they stopped to rest, Yuwen Yun rarely got out of the car and looked around.

As expected, they had walked out of the long mountain road. The road here seemed to be well maintained, at least much better than the road they had just walked on. The road was wide and the road-protecting forests were lush and green.

Yuwen Yun was looking around, and he grabbed a man who looked like an officer and asked, "Where is this place?"

The officer was startled, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, we are about to arrive in Fuling."

"Ah? The roads in Fuling are so wide?"

"This section of road was newly built when the King of Qi ruled Shu, so it is much easier to travel."

Yuwen Yun suddenly fell silent. Although he had heard a lot of rumors during his arrival, and even believed them, after learning that his uncle had died in the battle, he no longer felt such hatred in his heart.

"I never thought that I would receive such kindness from my uncle again."

Yuwen Yun spoke in a low voice and saluted towards the north.

The officers followed suit and saluted.

Yuwen Yun yawned, "Okay, go ahead and do your work. I need to take a rest. Don't disturb me!"

After giving the order, Yuwen Yun returned to the car. After walking for such a long time, it was a rare chance for him to feel comfortable and take a good rest.

Both Yuwen Yun and the soldiers who followed them all the way seemed very comfortable at this moment.

But at the front, Gao Ying had a serious look on his face.

He was squatting on the ground, playing with something in his hand. When he noticed Yang Jian coming, he quickly stood up and showed the thing in his hand to Yang Jian.

"This is."

“Horse manure.”

Gao Jiong said very solemnly.

Yang Jian was silent for a moment, "Are there cavalry passing by?"

"Yes, Warhorse. Very strange."

Gao Ying looked around. "There's not much horse manure, but it's very fresh. The traces along the road are not very clear, but they look like scouts."

"Fuling would never dare to go out right now. Whose scout is this?"

Yang Jian frowned. "Or maybe the rebels? The rebels have war horses, though not many."

Gao Ying narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"Perhaps. We should be more careful and send more scouts to explore the way ahead."

"it is good."

The army was ready and rested here, while the scouts continued to explore forward.

The army led by Yang Jian was not large in number, because they had to divide the troops to give the enemy an illusion that the number of this army was even smaller than the other army that was divided.

Although their number is small, they are basically the most elite soldiers.

But when the situation has come to its current point, even the most elite troops in the past have almost lost their fighting spirit. They have left their homes, and their families have almost fallen into the hands of the enemy. They have almost no hope for the future, and even the rewards of official positions are like a joke, especially since they have to march non-stop and the road is so difficult to travel. Some soldiers have already started to flee.

These elite scouts were not in high spirits at the moment.

They just hurriedly completed the orders given by the generals.

The level of morale seems to have a greater impact than anything else.

After conducting an investigation, the army protecting the king continued to move eastward.

This place is very close to Fuling.

Even Yang Jian felt much more relaxed at this moment.

The army is advancing rapidly. For some reason, the wind seems a little strong today, even though it was extremely hot in the past few days.

The army has just set out.

"Click~"

There was a sound, and the flag of the front army broke from the top and fell to the ground.

The soldiers were suddenly frightened and dared not move forward.

Yang Jian was talking with his subordinates about what to do next when a soldier came hurriedly and reported the situation.

Yang Jian's expression immediately became solemn. He looked at his trusted aides and his voice became serious.

"Today we set out to fight, but a strong wind blew the flags off. Is this a disadvantage?" "No!"

The counsellor Zheng Daoqian stood up and said in a serious tone: "Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger, when the sage acts, all things will see!"

"This wind rises, this cloud appears, this is the way for a king to rise to power after suffering!"

"Leaving Fuling and destroying the black flag is the way to discard the old and embrace the new, to curb the thieves!"

"How can you see it?"

"My lord, you don't know. The people of Qi say that the one who destroyed Qi was black. The thieves of Han Dynasty valued black and boasted of their virtue of water. The black flag was cut off, but the red flag remained. This means that the thieves of Han Dynasty will never be able to commit atrocities, and the Great Zhou Dynasty will be revived!"

Everyone around agreed.

Yang Jian was overjoyed and rewarded Zheng Daoqian, then ordered the army to continue the march.

The army walked forward for a distance, and suddenly an evil bird flew by with the cry.

Yang Jian looked at Zheng Daoqian again, "Is this bad?"

"No!"

"This bird is called a owl. It feeds on rotten rats. It is actually a mean person and cannot stand a gentleman. Today, I see that the king's aura is radiating and his ambition is soaring to the sky, so I come to scare it. It can be seen that my lord will live in the phoenix tree!"

Yang Jian was overjoyed.

The cold wind continued to blow, and the soldiers advanced quickly, getting shorter and shorter from Fuling.

The official road here was well built and the terrain was relatively flat compared to other places, but this was only compared to the surrounding areas. In fact, the number of times one had to go up and down the hills did not decrease. The uphill road was difficult to walk on, and the downhill road was the same. The front army passed the uphill road first, and then the distance increased slightly, and they became disconnected from the central army.

"kill!!!"

Suddenly, shouts of killing were heard from the front.

The Zhou army was shocked and quickly formed a battle line, only to see many cavalrymen rushing out from the various forks in the road ahead.

These knights were energetic and fully armed, completely different from the group of tired soldiers gasping for breath. In just a moment, the two sides encountered each other. Gao Changgong, wearing a mask, charged all the way, and no one could stop him.

The morale of the Zhou army was not high to begin with, and they were also tired. The Han army took advantage of their rest and the front army was almost overwhelmed in an instant. After a round of charge by the Han cavalry, there were almost no soldiers standing. However, Gao Changgong was not in a hurry to clean up these people. He hurriedly led the knights to continue the charge and occupied the high slope first.

When shouts of killing were heard from the front, Yang Jian was actually not afraid.

Because they encountered too many rebels along the way.

The imperial court lost control over the local areas, which gave rise to a large number of rebels. These people plundered everywhere and dared to attack even when they saw government troops. After all, there were many government troops among them.

Yang Jian immediately ordered his troops to form a battle array. He was not afraid of ordinary rebels. Although he had few troops, he could easily deal with the rebels. What the hell? ?

Baibao Xianbei? ?
Yang Jian raised his sword and was about to give orders, but suddenly he saw the enemies on the high slope in the distance.

It was a fully armed cavalry.

They wore strange masks with long feathers on their faces and were armed to the teeth.

Yang Jian's heart suddenly hung in the air.

At that moment, he didn't even hesitate for a moment.

"withdraw!!!"

Yang Jian shouted and took the lead to run.

It was not that Yang Jian was cowardly and abandoned his army, but when this cavalry appeared on the high slope, it had already announced its defeat. It was impossible to win! !

Yang Jian had no idea why there was a group of Baibao Xianbei here!
But this is not important, what is important is to run!

When Yang Jian ran away, the whole army fell into chaos.

Gao Jiong instinctively wanted to persuade Yang Jian to continue commanding, but when the knights on the high slope began to charge, Gao Jiong shut his mouth.

This is the real thing, not a knockoff.

They charged at the lower enemy with unified and swift speed.

Gao Jiong turned and ran. The soldiers screamed and dropped their weapons. Some took off their armor and fled in all directions. No one thought of resisting.

The enemy's charge was extremely fast, and after a moment, the two sides collided violently.

These Han knights don't even need to defeat the enemy first, they just need to chase and kill.

When it comes to chasing, the knights are undoubtedly the most experienced.

Gao Changgong's eyes were fixed on the carriage in the distance. He killed enemies one after another, and the distance between him and the carriage became shorter and shorter.

Then a baby came out of the car. Seeing the chaotic scene outside, he turned pale with fear and shouted loudly: "We will surrender! We will surrender!"

It was like he was taking the lead.

Many soldiers then remembered that the Han army seemed to never kill prisoners.

They quickly knelt on the ground and asked for surrender.

Sure enough, the defeated knights did not kill them again, but those who were still fleeing became important targets.

Gao Jiong did not dare to look back, and charged on his horse along the path, with several people following him.

"The fake Grand Master of Zhou is here!!"

He heard a shout nearby, and someone grabbed him and pulled him off the horse.

Gao Ying fell to the ground with a scream, and rolled over for several times, covered in blood. He raised his head with difficulty, but saw the backs of his family members.

That familiar voice
Gao Ying fainted.

Gao Ying seemed to be dreaming.

He recalled his life bit by bit. Although he was still very young, he had experienced so much.

He thought of the name he had as a child prodigy and the comments made by the adults about him.

I remember the praises from my relatives and the approving look in my father's eyes.

He recalled that Yuwen Xian had valued him since he was seventeen years old, and that he was kept by his side and given advice.

Gao Jiong's face was filled with smiles, but the smile did not last long. He remembered the fall of Chang'an, his father's capture, the death of Yuwen Xian, and the journey of fleeing.
His face turned painful again.

He groaned and then opened his eyes with difficulty.

Strange ceiling.

Gao Ying sat up suddenly, but this pulled the wound on his body and he grimaced in pain.

The doctor in the distance saw that he had woken up, hurried forward and began to take his pulse.

Gao Ying looked at the doctor hesitantly, "Father, where is this?"

"Fuling."

The doctor replied.

Gao Jiong's face darkened and he finally remembered the war. He looked around and understood what was going on. He kept a straight face and said nothing.

The doctor went out quickly.

A moment later, the door was pushed open, and a handsome general wearing armor walked in.

Gao Ying was shocked when he saw this person.

"Gao Changgong!!"

He stepped back cautiously and felt around, but found no weapon to defend himself.

Gao Changgong looked at Gao Jiong curiously, "Are you Gao Jiong?"

"The little prime minister of Zhou State?"

"At your age, and not from the royal family, how did you do it?"

Gao Ying stared at him coldly, "How did you end up here?"

"You couldn't have known we were going this way. Even the royal family didn't know where we were going, and we never told anyone."

Gao Changgong laughed.

"We have our own way. The road you chose has caused me so much trouble. I walked for so long. But fortunately, I stopped you."

"Gao Jiong, I have heard of your reputation in the past. Are you willing to serve the Han Dynasty?"

"Haha, General, just kill me. I am not a traitor! The King of Qi has been very kind to me. I will never betray him!!"

"is it?"

"Then why are you running to Chen? Once you get to Chen, you guys will have a chance to make a name for yourself. But what about the little emperor? What about Zhou?"

"I surrendered to Chen to avenge the King of Qi!"

"Whatever you say, I will present you to His Majesty. If you wish to die quickly, you can die in the house. However, your family is still in our hands. If you want to live a little longer, you can see your family before you die."

(End of this chapter)