Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 124: Umo's Revenge
"Susu..."

The grassland in the cold winter is desolate, and the endless dead grass rustles in the cold wind.

The sky was gloomy and covered with dark clouds, as if even the sky was frozen, without a trace of warmth.

In such an environment, a team of one hundred people moved slowly from east to west on this land full of deathly silence.

The soldiers were wearing heavy armor, and embroidered robes and cloaks over the armor to keep warm. Their hands were hidden in animal skin gloves, tightly grasping their spears.

The muscles on their faces were tense from the cold, and their breath condensed into white mist in the icy air.

In the team, the flags in the hands of the flag bearers fluttered in the cold wind, and the three stars on the flags indicated their identities.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have delayed any longer. If we had left earlier, we should have reached Shandan by now!"

On horseback, a young man in his early twenties sighed, and the young man beside him also looked around and said, "After all, this is Umo's territory, so it's better to be careful."

"Ming Zhen is right, but I heard from the officials in Lingzhou that many people were killed and injured when Wu Mo failed to invade Liangzhou. As long as we are careful, we should be fine."

After the young man finished speaking, he led his team and continued to move westward. The young man he called "Ming Zhen" was actually Li Mingzhen, the patriarch of the Li family and Li En's legitimate son.

Although he was young, Li Mingzhen still joined the team from Hexi heading to Chang'an.

Now Zhang Yitan was left in Chang'an, and they were responsible for bringing the imperial edict and the flag of the governor of Guiyi Army back to Dunhuang.

The Liangzhou grasslands were extremely cold in November. Although the soldiers were wearing battle jackets, embroidered robes and armor, their body temperatures were still taken away by the merciless north wind, and their cheeks were frozen red.

Everyone was gritting their teeth and persevering, despite the raging cold wind. The only thing on their minds was escorting the Jiedushi Jingji back to Dunhuang.

When they couldn't help it, they would look up at the Sanchen Flag in front of them, as if it could dispel the cold around them.

The Sanchen Flag is not only the flag of the army, but also the spiritual pillar of the soldiers.

Unfortunately, their journey back to Dunhuang is doomed to be bumpy, such as now...

"Woooooooo..."

Suddenly, horns sounded from all directions, and Li Mingzhen and the young man beside him changed their expressions.

"Beep--"

"Array!!"

The young man reacted the fastest. He blew the whistle and rode his horse, signaling the dozen or so carriages in the middle of the elite cavalry escort team.

In the carriage there were not only the imperial edict and the governor's flag, but also many ancient books and drawings that Zhang Yitan had obtained from the Ministry of Works.

These ancient books and drawings include important contents such as iron smelting and knife forging, which are related to life and death.

In a moment, hundreds of elite cavalrymen guarded the carriage and lined up to meet the enemy.

The horn sounded melodiously, and a large army began to appear on the distant horizon.

They came from all directions, with a number of tens of thousands, which was far beyond the reach of the young man and Li Mingzhen's hundred elite cavalrymen.

Everyone looked grim, but when they heard the rustling sound of the Sanchen flags beside them, they still clenched their spears.

Time passed little by little, and in less than a quarter of an hour, they were surrounded by tens of thousands of Hu cavalry.

Li Mingzhen glanced at the group of Hu cavalry and found that they ranged from thirteen or fourteen years old to fifty or sixty years old. It was obvious that all the men in the tribe who could ride horses and hold weapons were gathered together.

This scale should have appeared in the scene of going south to forage for the grass valley, but now it appeared around them.

For a moment, Li Mingzhen nervously gripped the reins, and the group of Hu cavalry stopped a hundred steps away from the elite cavalry.

They surrounded the elite cavalry and did nothing but watched them quietly.

Soon, a path separated from the team, and an old man and a young man rode slowly towards them from the end.

"He is from the Umu tribe of Baitinghai. Judging from his appearance, the old man is probably the Umu Khan Dugazhi..."

The young man reminded Li Mingzhen in a low voice. Li Mingzhen's breathing stagnated. He didn't understand why Bai Tinghai's troops surrounded them. Could it be that they were eyeing their armor and weapons?

If that were all, it would be easy to deal with. At worst, I would just have to surrender my armor to save my life, as long as I could go to Dunhuang with the governor's flag.

"Where's Zhang Yitan?"

Suddenly, Duga, who came on horseback, asked, as if he had already found out about the origins of Li Mingzhen and the others.

Hearing this, the young man rode out and said, "Wang Jingzhi, the chief clerk of Shazhou, my attendant has gone to Chang'an to take up his post. May I ask if this old man is Dugazhi?"

"It's me!" Dugazhi did not hide anything and admitted it openly while pointing his whip at them:

"You guys from Hexi, since Zhang Huaishen dares to default on his debt, then you should first hand over your armor and the supplies behind you in exchange!"

"Defeating?" Wang Jingzhi and Li Mingzhen looked at each other, not knowing what was going on. In the end, Wang Jingzhi bowed and said:
"Great Khan, we have been away from Hexi for nearly a year. We really don't know what happened in Hexi. Can you explain it to us?"

"Explain?" Dugazhi sneered and turned his horse's head, while Dulun Xiga behind him rode forward and told them about the transaction between Umo and Ganzhou.

It was not until then that Li Mingzhen and Wang Jingzhi learned about the deeds of Zhang Huaishen and Liu Jilian in recovering the Liangzhou Fanhe.

However, they were both very confused about the fact that Zhang Huaishen did not transfer 5,000 kilograms of iron to Du Gazhi as promised.

"Great Khan, how about this? We will leave a hundred sets of armor for you, but these carriages and our horses must be taken back to Ganzhou."

"If the Khan is willing, I can explain it to Governor Zhang after arriving in Ganzhou."

Wang Jingzhi did not want to expose the matter of the Jiedushi's flag. After all, the Jiedushi's flag was very important to Hexi, and Dugazhi and others should also know the value of the Jiedushi's flag.

If they knew about Jiedushi Jingjie's affairs, it would be difficult for them to leave the Liangzhou grassland.

"impossible!"

Dugazhi did not hesitate and directly rejected Wang Jingzhi's request. After he finished speaking, he raised his hand and said, "Take away their armor and carriages, and leave them ten days' worth of food!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, Du Lun Xiga began to lead hundreds of elite cavalry from the surrounding areas to prepare for action, and Wang Jingzhi immediately became anxious when he saw this.

"Don't do anything. We are willing to hand over everything except the horses!"

"But before that, you have to let my little brother leave with the food for more than a hundred of us!"

Wang Jingzhi's words made Du Lunxiga stop what he was doing. Then Wang Jingzhi got off the horse, gave up his horse and took off his armor.

As he took off his armor, he turned around and walked towards Li Mingzhen, whispering, "Take off your armor and drive the carriage with the imperial edict, ancient books, and flags out first."

"Okay!" Although Li Mingzhen is not very old, his mentality is far superior to that of ordinary people. Facing such a situation, he can still remain calm.

He dismounted, quickly took off his armor, walked to the middle carriage, and drove out of the team.

Just when he thought that the people of Umo would let him go, Dugazhi raised his hand and said, "Wait!"

"What?! The Khan is not going to keep his promise?!"

Wang Jingzhi spoke in a stern voice and drew the sword from his waist.

All of a sudden, all the elite cavalrymen who were waiting for his order raised their guns and prepared to attack.

Seeing this, Dugazhi frowned and said, "Dulunxiga, check it out."

"Yes!" Upon hearing this, Du Lunxiga rode his horse to Li Mingzhen and motioned him to open the door.

Seeing this, Li Mingzhen had to get out of the car, open the door, and walk into the carriage first, followed by Du Lunxiga.

After getting on the car, there were two large boxes and a dozen sacks in front of Du Lun Xijia.

He stabbed the sack with a dagger and saw that corn was flowing out. He then turned his attention to the two wooden boxes.

"Open……"

He motioned to Li Mingzhen to open the boxes. Li Mingzhen clenched his fists and then reached out to open the two boxes one after another.

The former was filled with books and documents, while the latter was filled with thick silk cloth.

Du Lun Xijia had no interest in books and documents. He reached out and uncovered the silk cloth, but underneath it was still silk cloth.

"Silk cloth? Not bad!"

Du Lunxiga's eyes lit up. After all, silk cloth could be considered a luxury in Hexi.

This box of silk cloth is enough to make several sets of clothes.

Thinking of this, Du Lunxijia immediately glared at Li Mingzhen: "Don't move!"

After that, he got out of the car and shouted, "Two people come and take the silk cloth off the car!"

While he was speaking, Li Mingzhen hurriedly bent over and groped in the silk cloth, quickly pulled out a piece of fine texture, and quickly hid it in his arms.

After he had done all this, Duryodhana had already boarded the carriage with two soldiers and signaled the two men to carry the silk cloth away.

"General, where are these grains..."

Suddenly, a Hu soldier reminded Du Lunxijia of the grain, but Du Lunxijia waved his hand and said, "It's only a few stones. Leave it for them as food."

Hearing this, Li Mingzhen heaved a sigh of relief, and Du Lunxijia also took the box of silk cloth off the carriage, and then glanced at Li Mingzhen: "You can go now!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Mingzhen got off the carriage, shook the reins and left.

He galloped all the way to the southwest, and only stopped to rest when the two draft horses were really tired.

After more than two hours, the sound of horse hooves began to be heard behind him.

His heart was in his throat, but the horse could not run any longer. Fortunately, the people who caught up with him were not the Emo troops, but Wang Jingzhi and others whose armor and weapons had been confiscated.

They were in a very sorry state at the moment. Dugazhi did not give all the horses to them. Instead, he exchanged their horses for draft horses and let them leave on them.

The draft horses were not powerful enough, so it took them nearly two hours to catch up with Li Mingzhen.

When the two sides met, Wang Jingzhi hurriedly dismounted, walked onto the carriage and reached out his hand to grope among the sacks.

Soon, he took out the copper knots one by one, and the flags were safe and sound.

He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly turned back to look at Li Mingzhen: "Where's the imperial edict?!"

"It's here with me!" Li Mingzhen also quickly took out the thin imperial edict from his arms.

"Okay, let's rush back to Ganzhou now to prevent those Ugly people from finding out about the problem."

Wang Jingzhi hurriedly gave orders, and Li Mingzhen also hid the imperial edict in his arms.

Wang Jingzhi took out the flag, hid it in a coarse cloth, and put it close to his back. He also asked each person to carry a document or an ancient book.

He was prepared. If the Umu people really caught up with them, they would have to immediately abandon their carriages and food and break out.

As it turned out, his guess was correct.

When Dugazhi returned to Baitinghai with a full load of armor, he casually asked Dulunxiga: "Apart from this box of silk cloth and food, is there nothing else on the carriage?"

"There was another box of books, but I didn't think it was important, so I didn't have anyone take it down."

In Dulun Xiga's opinion, a box of books was indeed useless, but when Dugazhi heard what he said, his face changed drastically: "Books?!"

"Yes, book." Dulunxiga still didn't notice anything wrong. Instead, Dugazhi turned his horse's head and said:

"No, everyone, catch up with them. There must be something fishy about those books!"

Hearing his words, the light cavalry around them reacted and turned their horses around and chased to the southwest.

At the same time, Dulun Xijia also asked: "Aye, why do you care about those books?"

"Silly child, you don't understand!" Du Lunxijia said in annoyance: "If these books contain records of iron smelting, then we can make better armor!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he hurriedly shook the reins and chased towards the southwest.

At the same time, Wang Jingzhi, Li Mingzhen and others, who learned that Fanhe had been recovered, also changed their routes and rushed towards Fanhe.

However, they all rode draft horses, which were inferior horses and obviously inferior to medium-quality riding horses and high-quality military horses.

So before nightfall, they heard the rumbling sound of horse hooves coming from behind them.

At that moment, everyone's face changed drastically, and they all whipped the horses desperately, but the horses could not go faster after all.

The Umu people in the back were already faintly visible, but at this moment they had completely lost their way.

They fled to the southwest, but seeing that they could not escape, Wang Jingzhi raised his hand and ordered everyone to rein in their horses.

"I should have fought to the death earlier!"

Li Mingzhen's young face showed a cruel expression, but Wang Jingzhi also looked unhappy: "It's my fault."

The two men and the elite Dunhuang cavalrymen around them fell into despair because the horses under their crotches were foaming at the mouth and could no longer run.

After taking a short rest, they abandoned the carriage and continued to escape.

The cavalrymen who had caught up saw that the carriage had been abandoned, so they hurriedly reined in their horses to check the carriage. After discovering that the books had disappeared, they quickly began to chase after them.

As the sky darkened, the Umu people chased with torches, while Wang Jingzhi and others escaped cautiously under the cover of night.

Under the cover of darkness, many of the Umu cavalry were dispersed, and the number of soldiers under Wang Jingzhi's command became fewer and fewer.

In the end, there were only about twenty of them, but there was a faint glow of fire ahead.

When fire appeared ahead, everyone despaired, as it meant they were surrounded.

"I feel so ashamed of my servant!"

In this situation, Wang Jingzhi couldn't help but utter a cry of grief and anger, while Li Mingzhen and others also felt cold hands and feet.

As the fire ahead got closer and closer, they gradually became desperate.

"Who is that person in front?"

Suddenly, Tibetan voices came from the front, and everyone saw the team under the firelight.

More than a dozen light cavalrymen wearing leather coats and holding torches watched them vigilantly, while one of them was holding a flag.

The flag fluttered in the darkness, revealing the three-star symbol.

"Are you the scouts of Banhe?!"

After a while, Wang Jingzhi asked hurriedly, and the people behind him also smiled as if they had survived a disaster.

"Of course, who are you? Answer me now!"

The light cavalry looked at Wang Jingzhi and his companions warily, and Wang Jingzhi hurriedly said, "I am Wang Jingzhi, the chief clerk of Dunhuang. There are Umo's pursuers behind us. Take us back to Fanhe!"

"Umu's pursuers?!" Upon hearing Wang Jingzhi's words, these light cavalry took out their wooden whistles and started blowing them.

"Beep--"

A shrill whistle sounded in the night, and one of them waved his hand quickly: "Follow me!"

At his signal, Wang Jing and his group hurriedly followed, but some of the light cavalry behind them also heard the whistle and hurriedly chased after them.

Fortunately, the whistle sounded to inform the patrolling soldiers and cavalrymen that an enemy was approaching, and they all gathered towards the whistle.

After an unknown amount of time, a hundred light cavalrymen had gathered around Wang Jingzhi and his men again, and only twenty-six of the elite cavalrymen at the beginning were left.

Behind them was a group of light cavalrymen, and judging from the fire, there were no less than two or three hundred of them, and there were fires in the distance approaching this side.

Gradually, the draft horses under the crotch of Wang Jingzhi and others lost their strength and were unwilling to move forward. Seeing this, Fanhe's light cavalry hurriedly abandoned their draft horses and retreated southward in groups of two.

During this period, the fire behind them became more and more intense, and in the end it even became a "sea of fire".

Dugazhi and his men caught up with them, which made Wang Jingzhi and the others feel nervous.

"arrive!"

"Beep--"

The light cavalry in front of Wang Jingzhi shouted with relief, and then blew the wooden whistle.

Only then did Wang Jingzhi react and saw the shadow of Fanhe City appear not far ahead of them.

Not only did they see it, but the Umu cavalry behind them also saw it, so they sped up their horses, as if they wanted to catch up with Wang Jingzhi and his men.

Before they caught up, Wang Jingzhi and his men rode their horses to the other side of the moat, and the drawbridge was lowered by the soldiers guarding the city.

All the foreign and light cavalry rode across the moat, turned their horses around and formed a battle formation, while Umo's cavalry also reined in their horses and headed to the other side of the moat, with flames shooting up into the sky.

There was no time to pull the drawbridge, and the two sides remained in a stalemate.

"what happened?!"

Suddenly, a majestic voice came from the top of the city. Wang Jingzhi and others looked up and saw a familiar face.

"Jiujuyan! It's me, Wang Jingzhi!"

Wang Jingzhi was familiar with Jiu Juyan, but he never thought that the defender of Fanhe City was Jiu Juyan.

"Wang Jingzhi?!"

A surprised voice came from the top of the city. Jiu Juyan asked in disbelief, "Didn't you go to Chang'an with Zhang Changshi?"

"We are back. Open the city gate and let us in! We have the imperial edict and the military governor's flag sent by the court!"

Wang Jingzhi quickly spoke in Tang dialect, and Jiu Juyan's pupils shrank after hearing it. He raised his hand and said, "Armored soldiers line up at the city gate, prepare to open the gate to receive them into the city!"

"But we must fight back..." A lieutenant general stopped Jiu Juyan and said, "These Hu cavalrymen outside the city..."

Jiu Juyan looked outside, his face turned cold: "Can a mere 10,000 light cavalry break through our hundreds of armored soldiers?"

"Prepare the knife carts to block the door. If they dare to rush into the tunnel, kill them all!"

He was not being arrogant, but he had the strength to say this. After all, there was still the gate knife cart left by Moli in Fanhe City.

If the gate is blocked by chariots, any cavalry who dares to charge will be killed.

Under his military order, the city gate slowly opened to allow space for one man and one horse to enter.

Wang Jingzhi, Li Mingzhen and others hurriedly rode their horses into the city, dismounted and sat on the ground as if they had survived a disaster.

Jiu Juyan came forward in armor. He had no time to ask the two about the imperial edict. Instead, he took his soldiers out of the city to confront the Umu people.

They squeezed out of the narrow space where the city gate was opened, and then lined up on the south bank of the moat.

During this period, Dugazhi did not launch a surprise attack because he knew that most of his men were light cavalry and could not capture Fanhe at all.

The reason why he didn't leave was to maximize his benefits...

(End of this chapter)