Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 159: Yan Xin's Fast Walk (asking for monthly tickets at the beginning of the month)
"Damn it, it's so cold this morning!"

At Fenglin Pass, a foreign soldier stood behind the parapet, unbuttoning his pants with rustling sounds, and couldn't help complaining.

Soon, the liquid flowed down and was blown everywhere by the autumn wind, getting all over my hands.

The soldier did not despise it. He wiped it on his trousers, turned around and prepared to ring the morning bell.

Just as he turned around, he seemed to hear some sound and turned back to observe carefully.

"Qiliben sent a light cavalry to deliver a message? Why are there horse hoof sounds?"

He squinted his eyes and observed carefully, then suddenly his eyes widened.

Under his gaze, a large number of elite cavalry suddenly rushed out from the Yellow River behind Fenglin Pass and headed towards Baohan City.

He rubbed his eyes in disbelief: "This elite cavalry came out of the mountains?!"

From his perspective, these elite cavalry seemed to have passed through the mountains and appeared out of thin air.

As a soldier at Fenglin Pass, he knew very well that there was no road on the mountain.

He thought he was still sleepy, but the cool autumn wind blowing on his face reminded him.

"Enemy attack!!"

He screamed loudly, then crawled towards the bell tower.

"Dang...dang...dang..."

The not-so-big three-foot bronze bell kept ringing as he struck it, waking up the foreign soldiers stationed at the pass.

"Enemy attack!!"

Before the foreign soldiers had time to complain, they heard the soldiers shouting at the top of their lungs.

All of a sudden, all the foreign soldiers quickly got up and frantically put on their armor.

A large number of elite cavalry rushed out of the mountains and galloped towards Baohan.

When the foreign soldiers at Fenglin Pass put on their armor, hundreds of elite cavalrymen emerged from the mountains and rushed towards the city gate.

"Don't open the gate! Enemy attack!!"

"Damn it, where is the enemy?!"

The foreign soldiers on the city wall shouted hurriedly, which made the foreign soldiers inside the pass unable to figure out the direction of the enemy.

They all thought that the enemy was on the official road in the west, so they wanted to open the inner gate, but now they were stopped. Doesn't this mean that the enemy came from Baohan?

Soon, a lieutenant led dozens of armored soldiers onto the horse path of the inner city.

The foreign soldier who first spotted the enemy army hurried towards them, but Xiaojie kicked him over and said, "Who told you to yell like that?!"

"I'm not shouting nonsense, the enemy is coming from the other side of the mountain!"

The foreign soldier who was kicked over felt very aggrieved and pointed in the direction east of Fenglin Pass to defend himself.

"You pig-dog fellow, there is no mountain to the east..."

Xiaojie was about to retort, but the sound of horse hooves appeared right next to his ears.

He looked inside the pass hurriedly, and sure enough, he saw hundreds of elite cavalrymen on the east side of Fenglin Pass, and they were less than a hundred steps away from the city gate.

If the foreign soldiers had not called for a stop, these hundreds of elite cavalry would have rushed into the pass.

"what happened?!"

"How come there is a road over there in Fenglin Mountain?!"

Xiaojie leaned against the parapet and looked at Fenglin Mountain in the distance in disbelief.

Tubo had occupied Hezhou for nearly a hundred years and knew the situation in Fenglin Mountain inside and out.

There is no road at all in Fenglin Mountain. Since Hezhou can take a boat to Lanzhou via Fenglinjin Ferry, there is no need to build a road at all.

But now, a large group of elite cavalry suddenly emerged from Fenglin Mountain, and more groups continued to emerge in the distance.

The scene before him was beyond Xiaojie'er's understanding.

If he had not been sober at the moment, he would probably have treated the Tang army outside the pass as ghosts, just like the foreign soldiers.

"Beep--"

The shrill whistle woke Xiaojie'er up. He turned pale and said, "Damn it! The road to Baohan is blocked. How can we pass the message back to Baohan?"

Thinking of this, Xiaojie reacted: "Gather all the soldiers in the city, let's go out of the city and fight this group of Han slaves!"

Before he finished speaking, he saw the team coming out of Feng Linshan, actually walking towards them.

At the same time, hundreds of elite cavalry outside the pass also raised their flags.

The words "Longxi" and "Liu" made Xiaojie'er swallow back the words he was going to say when he was about to leave the city for a decisive battle.

He stared outside the pass with wide eyes, and the Longxi army in the distance was gradually approaching.

He watched the team approach, and the armored soldiers on the carriages jumped off the carriages one after another after arriving at the battlefield and began to form a battle array outside the pass.

Five hundred elite cavalry and one thousand armored soldiers blocked the Fenglin Pass, leaving Xiaojieer at a loss.

Of course, what made him even more overwhelmed was this familiar feeling.

For a moment, Xiaojie recalled the scene when they were slaughtered by Liu Jilong's hundreds of elite cavalry in Qilian City.

“Liu…Liu…Liu Jilong?!”

Xiaojie'er spoke in surprise, and the foreign soldiers around him gasped after hearing it.

Most of Shang Yanxin's 5,000 elite cavalry had already scattered in the past few years. Now the three states of He, Lin and Wei cannot even muster 5,000 armored soldiers, and there are only about 3,000 elite cavalry.

As for the troops directly under Shang Yanxin, there were actually less than two thousand people left.

It was for this reason that Shang Yanxin did not rush to help Shang Moling when he asked for help.

It was already difficult for Shang Yanxin, Zhe Buhui, and Lu Ruyue to defend the three states of Helin and Wei. How could they have spare energy and food to help Shang Moling,

If they dare to send troops to Liangzhou, those guys in Longnan will dare to plunder their food.

After making a choice, they rejected Shang Moling's request for help.

But they didn't expect that instead of going to Liangzhou to fight Liu Jilian, Liu Jilian came to Longxi to fight them.

"Jie'er, what should we do... I just saw over a thousand of their elite cavalry rushing towards Baohan."

When the kicked foreign soldier learned that the person who launched the surprise attack on Hezhou was Liu Jilong, he immediately confessed what he had just seen.

"The pig-dog guy..."

Xiaojie no longer had the energy to continue kicking this guy. What he was thinking about now was what decision to make.

He was clear about the situation in Hezhou. There were 500 elite cavalrymen in Fenglin Pass, 1,000 elite cavalrymen in Baohan, and 300 elite cavalrymen in Fenglin City, totaling no more than 1,800 elite cavalrymen.

Not to mention whether the man outside the pass was Liu Jilong, there were no less than 1,500 armored soldiers visible in the battle array. Add to that the thousands of elite cavalrymen who were galloping towards Baohan as mentioned by the guy next to him, the number of armored soldiers who raided Hezhou would be at least no less than 2,500.

"Generals inside the pass, I have already sent elite cavalry to Baohan. If you want to starve to death in Fenglin Pass, you can continue to hold on!"

Suddenly, shouting was heard outside the pass, and Xiaojie stuck his head out and saw the familiar figure.

Liu Jilong sat upright on his horse and walked back and forth under the city, just like taking a leisurely stroll in the garden.

With his figure and appearance, there was no one else like him in Helong, so Xiaojie naturally recognized him.

"The pig-dog guy...it's really Liu Jilong!"

Xiaojie quickly shrank back, cursing under his breath.

His affirmation made the surrounding foreign soldiers at a loss, but Liu Jilian was still shouting outside the pass.

"You don't have much time left. I will lead my soldiers to attack Baohan now. If you are brave enough, you can lead your troops out of the pass!"

Liu Jilian kept provoking the foreign soldiers inside the pass from outside the pass, and Xiaojie'er gritted his teeth.

"Festival..."

"Shut up! Ignore him for now!"

Several centurions wanted to speak, but were scolded by Xiaojieer and shut up.

Seeing that they were not going out, Liu Jilian, who was outside the pass, immediately turned his horse around and returned to the formation.

"Seeing me here, these foreign soldiers will definitely not dare to come out."

"Leave my flag here, the central army will stay here, and the rear army will follow me to Baohan!"

In just a few words, Liu Jilong made the arrangements.

He led the soldiers and civilians to rush towards Baohan, but the foreign soldiers inside Fenglin Pass did not move at all.

The distance from Fenglin Pass to Baohan is only about forty miles.

As the sun rose, the slaves of Baohan City also went out of the city to work under the supervision of the foreign cavalry.

Under the supervision of hundreds of cavalry, tens of thousands of slaves began to harvest grain on large scale.

There is Fenglin Pass in the north, Fenglin City in the south, mountains in the west, and Donggu in the east...

In such a safe environment, the foreign cavalry in Baohan County were not vigilant at all, or it could be said that everyone in Baohan County was not vigilant.

Because of this, the elite cavalry led by Shang Duoluo had a smooth journey of more than 40 miles.

"Buzz rumbling..."

Suddenly, dense sound of horse hooves came from the north. The foreign cavalry on the official road looked towards the north, while the slaves were numbly harvesting crops in the fields.

"what sound?"

"The sound of horse hooves, but it doesn't sound like the sound that dozens of horses can make."

"Is it the taboo name of Fenglin Pass?" "It should be..."

Some foreign cavalrymen discussed and thought that it was the cavalry from Fenglin Pass that was heading south.

Just as they were discussing, a flag that was very unfamiliar to them appeared on the official road in the distance.

"Three Star Flags!"

"It's the Tang Army! Retreat!!"

"Beep--"

When the whistle sounded, all the foreign cavalry rushed towards Baohan, and the slaves also rushed to follow.

Even though the foreign cavalry had explained the identities of Shang Duoluo and the others, the slaves still blindly followed the cavalry.

What they didn't expect was that after the foreign cavalry rushed into Baohan, they closed the city gate. Thousands of slaves in the north of the city looked at the closed city gate, and there was a hint of fear in their numb eyes.

They turned and looked to the north, only to see a large group of elite cavalrymen in the north split into three. One group stayed in the north, and the other two rushed towards the east and west gates.

Baohan City is located on the left side of the Lishui River Valley. There is an ancient saying that "if the Lishui River is abundant, Hezhou will have a good harvest."

When the water was abundant, the river was more than twenty feet wide, but now it is only thirty or fifty feet wide, and the water level is far lower than the height of the canal built in the early Tang Dynasty.

Even so, Baohan still relied on Lishui to cultivate tens of thousands of acres of crops outside the city.

When Shang Duoluo and others saw the vast fields of crops, their eyes almost turned red.

"Damn it, these bandits don't even want their own people."

Li Ji said with red eyes: "I will take people to rescue these people and let them help us harvest the grain!"

"Okay!" Shang Duoluo didn't care about the word "foreign bandits" that Li Ji said, but focused on the food outside Baohan City.

The Longxi army had already harvested the grain in Wuquan before setting out, but even so, it was only enough for them to eat until the next autumn harvest.

Now that the army has set out, a lot of food has been consumed along the way. The food in Wuquan will definitely not last until next autumn harvest, and the soldiers' salaries have not been settled.

Because of this, the food outside Baohan City is the foundation for the Wuquan military and civilians to survive until next autumn harvest, and it is the foundation for the soldiers' military pay!

Soon, Li Ji led more than a hundred elite cavalrymen and rushed to the city of Baohan.

Without any coercion or inducement, the slaves followed him north at his command and then harvested the grain at his instruction.

Such scenes not only appear in the north of the city, but also in the east and west of the city.

"Chiliben! Chiliben!"

"roll!!"

Inside the Baohan Yamen, a guard rushed into the inner hall in a hurry. He ignored Shang Yanxin who was exercising and knelt down to report: "Qiliben, the Tang army has arrived outside the city and has surrounded the north gate, east gate, and west gate!"

"what?!"

Upon learning that the Tang army had surrounded Baohan, Shang Yanxin immediately calmed down, wiped his body quickly, and put on his clothes with the help of the woman.

"How could there be Tang troops and people from Fenglin Pass who are hiding from them?!"

"Not sure. The Tang army outside the city has more than a thousand elite cavalrymen. I'm afraid they are just the vanguard."

The two asked and answered each other, and Shang Yan tied his clothes tightly without thinking: "Break out to Fenglin!"

"Yes!" Xiaojie'er quickly responded and escorted Shang Yanxin out.

As for the woman who served Shang Yanxin, Shang Yanxin ignored her and abandoned her directly.

Soon, the elite cavalry surrounding the yamen began to escort Shang Yanxin to break out to the south of the city, with no intention of defending the city at all.

Their families are all in Fenglin in the south, so they have no burden at all about abandoning Baohan.

Once Fenglin Pass is breached, Baohan will become a place that is easy to attack but difficult to defend, and staying here will be a dead end.

Although the elite cavalry of Longxi had surrounded the four gates of Baohan, there were no more than 200 elite cavalry deployed at each gate.

Faced with Shang Yanxin's breakthrough of thousands of elite cavalry, they could only temporarily avoid the sharp edge, and then stick to the team and follow them towards Fenglin City.

"Governor Shang! Shang Yanxin has escaped through the south gate!"

Elite cavalry came galloping from the east gate and told Shang Duoluo at the north gate the news of Shang Yanxin's breakout.

"what?!"

Shang Duoluo was stunned. He didn't expect that Shang Yanxin didn't even bother to defend the city and actually broke through and ran away.

His impression of Shang Yanxin still remained from the time when five thousand elite cavalrymen chased him and Shang Bibi. At that time, Shang Yanxin had a very high opinion of himself and looked down upon everyone except Lun Kongre.

Now instead of fighting, you just lead your troops to break through and run away?
Coming to his senses, Shang Duo Luo quickly gave an order: "The army will take over the city and order the people to speed up the harvest of grain!"

"I obey your orders!" Several captains and brigade commanders responded one after another, and Shang Duo Luo looked at Li Ji again:
"Send someone to tell the governor about Shang Yanxin's escape. He probably ran to Fenglin County."

"Okay!" Li Ji didn't expect Shang Yanxin to run so fast. After all, two years ago, Shang Yanxin was a person who made them feel suffocated.

Although the victory was inexplicable, the recovery of Baohan City became a fact.

Liu Jilong, who was leading his army on the journey, learned the news of Shang Yanxin's breakout from the Tang cavalry who came from Baohan. So he ordered Ma Cheng and others to lead the army slowly to Baohan City, while he rode his horse to Baohan City.

The vast fields of crops outside Baohan City made his eyes red, but he was more concerned about the situation in Baohan City.

As he led dozens of elite cavalry into Baohan City, the situation inside Baohan City could not be described as bad, but only as dirty.

Feces was piled up everywhere in the streets, leaving people with nowhere to live.

The houses are dilapidated, the roads are bumpy, and the streets are filled with an indescribable smell.

For a moment, Liu Jilong didn't even know whether he had come to Baohan or India.

He almost ran across the street holding his breath and came to the very clean Baohan Yamen.

Obviously, Shang Yanxin only cares about the hygiene around his residence. As for the hygiene of other places... as long as he can't see it, it's fine.

After getting off his horse, Liu Jilong strode into the yamen and met Shang Duoluo who was counting documents in the main hall of the yamen.

"The governor!"

"Where's Shang Yanxin? Did he go to Fenglin County?"

Liu Jilong walked into the main hall and looked straight at Shangduo.

"From the direction they are heading, they are heading to Fenglin. I just asked the slaves in the government office, and they said that Shang Yanxin had already sent the families of the soldiers to Fenglin."

"Li Ji followed with three hundred elite cavalrymen. I reminded him not to chase too far. It should be fine."

"Baohan's government warehouses and state treasuries were taken over, but they had long been emptied by Shang Yanxin. Only the several thousand dan of grain collected in the past few days could not be taken away."

Shang Duoluo told Liu Jilong what he had done after he learned that Shang Yanxin had broken through, and Liu Jilong was very satisfied after hearing it.

Liu Jilong did not feel sad about the government warehouses and state treasury being emptied by Shang Yanxin.

As long as Shang Yanxin is still in the three states of He, Lin and Wei, the things he took away will be taken back by himself sooner or later.

The more than 100,000 acres of unharvested grain outside Baohan City were enough for him to solve his current problems.

"Order the people to clean up the streets... This is a fucking place where people live!"

"Yes!"

Liu Jilian couldn't help but curse. After all, Hezhou was a big province in Longyou Road with a population second only to Liang, Qin and Xi provinces.

It would have been impossible for Shang Yanxin to run this place into what it is without some "skills".

Under his orders, Shandor quickly began to send people to clean the streets and harvest crops.

Before dusk, Ma Cheng and his men also entered Baohan City with their soldiers and civilians.

Liu Jilong sent Ma Cheng to recruit the foreign soldiers at Fenglin Pass, while he was looking through the documents of Hezhou.

At the same time, Shang Yanxin, who was eager to escape, also ran back to Fenglin City before dark.

"You bastard, how did Liu Jilong get through Fenglin Pass?"

Three years of wealth made Shang Yanxin become plump and obese, completely losing his former wildness and toughness.

At this moment, he was sitting in the main seat of Fenglin Yamen, panting and sweating profusely.

The one stationed in Fenglin City was Shang Yanxin's old subordinate, General Lin Ruzhen, who had been fooled by Liu Jilong.

His figure did not change due to his wealthy life, he still had a strong build.

Seeing Shang Yanxin breaking through, he quickly saluted and said, "Qiliben, since Liu Jilong can mobilize thousands of elite cavalry as the vanguard, I'm afraid the troops behind him are not weak."

"Although Fenglin City is strong, the arable land is all in the north, and there is a narrow strip of sky in the south."

"If Liu Jilong sends troops to attack us, even if there are tens of thousands of tons of grain in the city, it won't last long."

Lin Ruzhen told all her thoughts. Shang Yanxin also calmed down after listening. He wiped the sweat off his face with a silk cloth before saying, "You make sense."

"Pass the order down, load all the food onto the trucks, and escort the food and family members through Donggu to Linzhou!"

"Linzhou is easy to defend but difficult to attack. I don't believe Liu Jilong can get in!"

Shang Yanxin had no intention of competing at all, which made Lin Ruzhen hesitate to speak.

"What do you want to say?"

Shang Yanxin frowned and looked at General Lin Ruzhen. General Lin Ruzhen bowed and said, "An Yi is a devil. He has taken away your ambition."

"If it were you in the past, you would have gathered your troops and started a war with Liu Jilong, but now you want to run away. This is not something you would do in the past."

Lin Ruzhen's words made Shang Yanxin's cheeks red. He couldn't help but say, "What do you know? After I go to Linzhou, I can coerce Zhe Buhui and Lu Ruyue. By then, I can gather 4,000 soldiers. What will Liu Jilong be?!"

"But..." Lin Ruzhen was about to say something, but Shang Yanxin raised his hand to stop her:
"Okay, now do as I say and retreat to Linzhou overnight!"

(End of this chapter)