Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 25 Revenge!
The fall of Chigan Puda made the remaining Hu people more panicked. Some of his confidants wanted to rescue Chigan Puda with a fast horse, but Zhang Yang and Zhang Yu, who arrived later, attacked from the front and back and directly defeated the Hu cavalry that had been chasing them.

After the defeat, the habits of the Hu people were fully exposed. In order to protect the money they had obtained, they fled in all directions like birds and beasts.

Zhang Yu and Zhang Yang each led their men to chase the Hu cavalry for two or three miles, and only then did they feel at ease to return after completely defeating them.

Half an hour later, the mountain road and the forest returned to their former tranquility. Not only were the valuables on the carriages looted, but there were also a lot of rice, grain, and towels left behind by the fleeing Hu cavalry. If one carefully counted the goods, the iron pots would definitely be the most taken away.

"come out!"

Hao Zhao spotted a figure under the carriage, poked the ground with his spear, and shouted, "Come out quickly!"

"Come out!" The companion who knew Xianbei language also shouted fiercely.

After hesitating for a few times, Li Pu came out from under the car with a timid look on his face. When he saw the ferocious-looking people, Li Pu's body suddenly went limp.

"I am a Han Chinese, don't kill me!"

Li Pu looked at the glaring spearhead, raised his hands and begged.

"Say!"

Hao Zhao put the spear head on Li Pu's chest and asked sternly, "Why are you with the Hu people?"

Li Pu was afraid that Hao Zhao would fail, so he stepped back slightly and said in panic: "I was captured by the barbarians and I don't know anything!"

Seeing that Li Pu was still stubborn, Hao Zhao sneered and said, "In that case, I will kill you first."

As he spoke, Hao Zhao exerted force on the spear head, preparing to pierce Li Pu's chest with it.

Seeing this, Li Pu did not dare to be stubborn and quickly said, "I know Zhang Ji'an and Li Bosong. I am their classmate at Dalushan."

"classmate?"

Hao Zhao looked at Li Pu suspiciously, then pointed his spear forward and said, "Follow me to see the young master!"

"well!"

At this time, Zhang Yu was helping Zhang Yang take off his armor. Zhang Yang, who was charging ahead, was the target of countless Hu cavalry. There were seven or eight arrows embedded in his armor. One of the arrows even penetrated his back under the armor, but fortunately the arrowhead only penetrated slightly into the flesh and could be pulled out directly by hand.

In East Asian cavalry battles, nomadic cavalry would prefer archery on horseback rather than close combat with Han cavalry. Han cavalry may not be as good at archery as Hu cavalry, but armor is their magic weapon to defeat Hu cavalry. Han cavalry with iron armor can not only shoot at Hu cavalry, but also dare to fight hand-to-hand with spears.

It may seem easy to say that a lance is hand-to-hand combat, but in fact, there are very few cavalrymen who dare to use a lance to fight hand-to-hand. The impact of a cavalry charge at high speed is very terrifying, not only will the horses be afraid, but even the people will be timid.

Therefore, when two cavalry units are fighting, when one side initiates a charge, the other side will retreat. By switching formations, the retreating side will defeat the charging side before the attack; or in other words, the charging side will directly defeat the retreating side.

If both cavalry units are very brave and charge at each other, they will slow down their own cavalry just before the collision. At this time, if one side is braver and continues to charge, it will probably defeat the other side.

The hedging of cavalry is very consistent with the coward's game law of later generations. Cavalry is always a game for the brave, and the so-called fierce generals are more likely to be brave people who dare to challenge the coward's game law.

The victory today was achieved because Zhang Yang, wearing iron armor, bravely launched a hand-to-hand charge when the Hu cavalry had not yet formed a team, and defeated them in one fell swoop.

"Uncle, bear with it!"

Zhang Yu pulled out the arrow from his back, and blood instantly gushed out from the wound, causing Zhang Yang to gasp.

He looked at the arrowhead, cleaned the wound with clean water, applied the medicine foam in the box, and then bandaged it with clean white linen.

Zhang Yang stretched his back and said, "These barbarians are good at shooting arrows. If they weren't wearing armor, they would have been shot through long ago!"

As he was talking, Zhang Yang saw a red mark on Zhang Yu's face and asked, "What happened?"

Zhang Yu touched it with his hand, recalled the battle, and said, "It must have been brushed by the arrows shot by the Hu people earlier!"

After a pause, Zhang Yu added: "It was not a hidden arrow, but that person shot it intentionally!"

"I was shooting at the Hu cavalry, and that person tried to kill me repeatedly. If I hadn't been on guard all the time, I would have been hit by an arrow!"

Zhang Yang put on his middle coat and said with a sigh, "Ji'an's archery skills are superb, few can compare to him. It's rare to see such a person among the Hu people today!"

"Ok!"

Zhang Yu nodded slightly and said with fear: "This man is an excellent archer. If there is a chance, let's see if we can capture him. Even if we can't capture him, we must kill him to prevent him from causing trouble for our Zhang family!"

The victory today was just a temporary strategy that Zhang Yu came up with. He took advantage of the greed of the Hu people and used cavalry tactics to defeat the cavalry that outnumbered his own. If the two armies were to confront each other, it would be hard to say who would win!

While the uncle and nephew were talking, Li Song and Hao Zhao came over with the dusty Li Pu.

"Jian!"

"uncle!"

Seeing the familiar Li Pu, Zhang Yu stood up from the stone and looked at the frightened Li Pu. "Bo Song, what's going on?" Zhang Yu asked.

Li Song glared at Li Pu and said angrily, "Everything that happened today was caused by Wen Shao and Li Pu. Wen Shao has been holding a grudge since the last incident in the market. Just because you and I were in Dalu Mountain, Wen Shao didn't take action yet."

"When it was almost time to return home, Wen Shao knew that the Chigan Hu people had a grudge against me, so he asked Li Pu to bring silk and rice to bribe Chigan Pu Da, asking him to ambush and kill the caravan halfway!"

Hao Zhao pointed his spear at Li Pu's throat and said angrily, "Young Master, why don't you kill Li Pu and avenge the brothers who died and were injured today?"

Li Pu knelt on the ground and cried out, "Spare my life! These things were all ordered by Wen Shao and have nothing to do with me. Considering that I am a student of Lord Changwen, I hope you can spare my life today!"

"Dog!"

Zhang Yang kicked Li Pu angrily and cursed: "If you hadn't shown us the way and contacted Chigan Puda, how could the ambush and killing have happened?"

"Brother Ji'an, spare my life!"

Li Pu, who was kicked to the ground, struggled to crawl to Zhang Yu's feet to save his life. He hugged his calf and begged, "Brother, if you can spare my life today, I will work like a slave and serve you without any complaints."

Seeing that Zhang Yang was about to kick Li Pu again, Zhang Yu stretched out his hand to stop him and said, "Uncle, please spare Li Pu's life!"

"Thank you, Brother Ji'an!"

Zhang Yu pulled Li Pu up from the ground and said, "I'm afraid Wen Shao can't think of a way to kill someone with a borrowed knife!"

Hearing this, Li Pu stole a glance at Zhang Yu, and seeing Zhang Yu staring at him coldly, he suddenly became silent, lowered his head and dared not speak.

Zhang Yu put his hand on his belt and asked calmly, "I don't care whether this plan was made by Wen Shao or you. I just want to ask you, do you dare to accuse Wen Shao of hiring someone to kill someone?"

Li Pu looked up at Zhang Yu, with a troubled look on his face.

"Don't dare?" Zhang Yu said coldly.

Li Pu shook his head and said bitterly, "Wen Shao is a member of the Wen family. If I accuse him of hiring someone to kill someone, I'm afraid my family and I will all die."

"I can protect your family's lives!"

Zhang Yu paced back and forth and said, "If you report Wen Shao for hiring a killer, I can protect your family's lives and promise you a peaceful life. If you don't report Wen Shao, I can protect your family or kill them."

Li Pu was slightly moved and said, "The Wen family is a prominent family in Bingzhou. Even if I report this to the prefecture, I'm afraid it will be difficult to punish Wen Shao!"

"Don't worry about it!"

Zhang Yu was confident and said, "I have my own way!"

"promise!"

After Li Pu was taken away, Li Song frowned and said, "What Li Pu said is not without reason. Even if the prefecture accepts the case of Wen Shao hiring a killer to kill someone, Wen Shao will be pardoned due to the power of the Wen family and the court's annual amnesty."

What Li Song said was very realistic. When the children of a rich family committed a serious crime, it was very difficult for the government to arrest them. For example, when Cao Cao committed a serious crime, Xiahou Dun took the blame for him, and Cao Cao later rescued Xiahou Dun; or when Xiahou Dun killed someone who insulted his teacher in the village, he was not punished.

At the same time, the Eastern Han Dynasty court would often grant amnesty to the whole country due to the instability of its rule. Therefore, some noble families would learn the inside story of the court's amnesty in advance, commit crimes on purpose, get caught, and then be released from prison on amnesty to satisfy their excitement.

Therefore, even if Li Pu reported Wen Shao at that time and an official took over the case, the result of this case would be that Wen Shao, with the help of his clansmen, would temporarily live in another place and wait for the court to issue an amnesty before returning to Taiyuan.

Hao Zhao gritted his teeth and said, "Wen Shao has gone too far in bullying others. If you don't give up, I am willing to sneak into Qi County and assassinate Wen Shao to avenge my grievances."

Zhang Yu slapped Hao Zhao on the head and cursed, "How can a mere Wen Shao compare to you? If you die in Qi County, what will happen to your family?"

Zhang Yu never imagined that the young Hao Zhao was so aggressive that he wanted to play out the classic drama of the ranger's revenge.

"Be careful when doing things. Sometimes killing cannot solve the problem. The gentry has its own rules. We must learn how to use the rules to gain greater benefits for you and me." Zhang Yu said.

"I remember!"

Facing Zhang Yu's reproach, although Hao Zhao shrank his neck, he had a silly smile on his face and felt very warm in his heart.

"What does Ji'an mean?" Zhang Yang asked.

Zhang Yu put his hands behind his back and said, "It is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. This is the revenge between Wen Shao and me!"

After a pause, Zhang Yu sneered and said, "However, the vengeance between our Zhang family and Chi cadre must be avenged now!"

Li Song nodded and said, "Chigan Puda was killed by Ji'an's arrow, and the rest all fled. Now the people are leaderless and the people are unstable. If we can unite our forces to attack them, not only can we severely damage Chigan Puda, but Ji'an will also become famous."

Zhang Yang scratched his short beard and said, "Though the Chigan Hu people suffered heavy casualties in this battle, if we want to send troops to attack them, we need to go back to the fort to discuss this matter with my brother."

Zhang Yu walked towards the carriage and urged, "Save the injured brothers and send them to the dock as soon as possible!"

(End of this chapter)