The Splendor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 121 Fierce General of Hedong
Xiao Yi leaped down from the earthen wall and glanced at Liu Yun.

Upon hearing that Liu Jiye had arrived, Liu Yun's face became noticeably excited, as if he had encountered reinforcements.

Xiao Yi beckoned to his soldiers Yu Douzi and Tang Bing and said, "Keep a close eye on him. If he dares not do as I say, kill him immediately."

"Here!"

"This..." Liu Yun was immediately terrified and said, "General, rest assured, I would never dare to do that."

"Who is coming?"

“He is my grandfather’s adopted son. His original surname is Yang. He is the son of a powerful family in Linzhou. In his early years, my grandfather was the governor of Linzhou. He saw that he was outstanding in archery and horsemanship and was brave and strong when he was only ten years old. So he took him under his wing and named him Liu Jiye.”

As Liu Yun spoke, he subconsciously added, "He was very good at fighting. When I left Hedong, everyone in the army called him 'Little Yuchi'."

"No matter how good you are at fighting, can you defeat two thousand people if you come alone?"

Xiao Yi's words extinguished Liu Yun's hopes.

He turned and left the village, watching Liu Jiye arrive and dismount nimbly.

The man was about twenty years old, tall and robust, wearing a Hedong military robe and lamellar armor with gilded copper studs along the edges. He had a resolute face, a high nose, and bright, piercing phoenix eyes.

Where is my elder brother?

"Rest inside."

Liu Jiye looked over, scrutinized him closely, and asked, "Who are you?"

"Deputy Commander of the Cavalry of Taining Army, Murong Fu of Yanzhou."

"Murong Jixun's subordinates?"

"Yes."

Liu Jiye continued walking and asked, "What happened?"

"Guo Que'er pretended to invite Your Highness to Bian to ascend the throne, but then she ruthlessly killed him. My husband and General Zhang died in battle one after another. We escorted Your Highness all the way here."

Why not cross the river?

"We are too exhausted to walk any further. The horses are dead from exhaustion, and Your Highness's wounds cannot withstand further agitation. We need a carriage."

Xiao Yi deliberately lagged behind by two steps and quickly made a hand gesture to Mu Lingjun.

More than forty people surrounded the abandoned village.

"Brother?!"

Ahead, Liu Jiye shouted and strode to Liu Yun, asking with concern, "Your hand? What happened to it?!"

"It was...it was Guo Que'er's subordinate...who was killed by Xiao Yi."

Xiao Yi wasn't angry. He simply stood behind Liu Jiye with his hand on his sword, staring calmly at Liu Yun.

Liu Yun's eyes darted away, and he weakly murmured, "I managed to escape by sheer luck, but I was chased all the way by pursuers, and I simply couldn't walk anymore..."

"Wang Gui, go and tell General Li to ask for the imperial carriage to come and fetch him."

"Here."

Xiao Yi observed carefully and saw that the guards were noble and capable, and obeyed orders without question. After a while, they rode away.

Liu Jiye's eyes were slightly red. He was a man of great loyalty and affection. He took off his cloak and covered Liu Yun with it. Then he turned around and asked Xiao Yi about the matter in Xuzhou.

"Guo Que'er actually dared to send troops to pursue us into Hedong?"

"Yes, these traitors are fearless and relentless in their pursuit."

"I also know about Xiao Yi killing Murong Gong with his spear. Tell me about him."

“I hate him just thinking about him,” Xiao Yi said through gritted teeth. “He was big and burly, ugly as a ghost, and killed without blinking an eye.”

Liu Jiye said, "I'll let you tell me how he hunted down my elder brother."

"he came."

The sound of horses' hooves could be heard from afar.

The two quickly climbed up the earthen wall and looked eastward. They saw snow dust flying on the official road as hundreds of cavalrymen galloped towards them, carrying the banners of the Tianxiong Army.

"Take Big Brother with you!"

"I'm afraid it's too late. His Highness is seriously injured, and we don't have enough horses."

Xiao Yi knew that the person who came was Fan Shoutu, who was under Li Rong's command and was responsible for pretending to pursue. He deliberately delayed, and soon, four hundred cavalrymen began to surround the abandoned village.

Liu Jiye could not command Xiao Yi, but he was very decisive in mobilizing his personal guards.

"He Huaipu, take the two men back immediately and ask General Li for help!"

"Here."

"The rest of you follow me to set up defenses. Ten of you will guard the ruins on the east side of the village, build stone chevaux-de-frise, and line up with long spears. The rest of you will set up sentries at the village entrances on the side."

"Here."

"Murong Fu, bring your men to support me."

"it is good."

Xiao Yi observed coldly, noticing Liu Jiye's methodical and swift movements, and secretly thought that this man was extraordinary.

Let him guard it; the more convincingly he guards it, the easier it will be for Li Cungui to fall into his trap.

Soon, Fan Shoutu's cavalry surrounded them.

Four hundred riders reined in their horses about fifty paces outside the village.

"Fire arrows!"

A sparse rain of arrows came, striking the earthen wall or falling to the ground, but without any accuracy.

The plan was progressing smoothly, and after about half an hour, Xiao Yi figured that Li Cungui should be arriving soon.

"wrong!"

Liu Jiye suddenly said in a deep voice, "Something's not right. They have ulterior motives."

Seeing that he had figured it out, Xiao Yi gave Mu Lingjun a look, signaling him to act at any time, and asked, "Why do you say that, General?"

"With so few men, we are not defending a particularly dangerous location. Why would they surround us without attacking?"

Xiao Yi said calmly, "General, you are overthinking it. The rebels are tired from chasing us, and they probably plan to rest their horses before launching another attack."

"No, if they went deep into Hedong, they would never be so relaxed."

Liu Jiye was very confident. He narrowed his eyes, pointed to the cavalry in the distance, and said, "They are holding the reins in their right hands, ready to retreat or surround the reinforcements at any time... This feint attack is a tactic to besiege the stronghold and ambush the reinforcements. I must inform General Li that he must not cross the river lightly..."

"Tiger--"

While Xiao Yi was talking to Liu Jiye, Mu Lingjun had already quietly circled behind Liu Jiye and slashed down with his sword.

However, Liu Jiye seemed to have eyes in the back of his head and dodged it in an instant.

The figure moved with lightning speed, rushing outwards.

"Stop him!"

Two soldiers immediately blocked his way.

Liu Jiye drew his sword, cleaved a soldier's spear in two, and then slit his neck; another soldier had just raised his sword when Liu Jiye kicked him in the chest, sending him flying to the ground.

Xiao Yi commanded his soldiers to surround him, and Liu Jiye's personal guards rushed over, desperately protecting him as he mounted his horse.

"Men, break through!"

"Take it!"

Xiao Yi did not rush to pursue, but immediately drew out a red signal flag and waved it, signaling Fan Shoutu to tighten the encirclement.

At the same time, he ordered Mu Lingjun to guard all the entrances and exits of the abandoned village and ordered his men to keep an eye on Liu Yun to prevent Liu Jiye from snatching people.

"General!" Shou Tao cried out urgently, "The enemy's banner is coming!"

Xiao Yi climbed the earthen wall in two steps and looked around. The large flag embroidered with the character "Li" had already crossed the Qin River.

It wasn't the two thousand men he had expected. Judging from the number of flags and the length of the procession, Li Cungui was quite confident that he had probably only brought about eight hundred elite cavalry to relieve the siege.

"Well done."

He immediately drew his red-feathered arrow, drew his bow fully, and shot it into the reeds.

A moment later, Li Rong responded with a red flag.

Xiao Yi responded by waving a flag, indicating that Li Cungui was already three hundred paces away.

With the major decision made, when their gaze swept across the abandoned village, they were surprised to find that Liu Jiye had not yet been killed.

"What's going on with Fan Shoutu? Send the order to annihilate Liu Jiye immediately!"

"Here."

Xiao Yi watched for a while longer and found that Fan Shoutu reacted quickly, but Liu Jiye was fast on horseback and with a fast gun. Unable to break through to the west, he used the ruins to cut through and break out from the weak point of the eastern defense line.

Fan Shoutu's cavalry gave chase, but he turned around and shot down two of them with a single spear thrust, creating distance. With his remaining six or seven riders, he attempted to detour through the reeds to find Li Cungui.

Li Rong's troops are lying in ambush in the reeds; they are not afraid of failing to kill Liu Jiye.

Xiao Yi turned his gaze back to Li Cungui's vanguard, which was already rushing towards them, only a hundred paces away from the abandoned village.

"General, they've arrived."

"Stay calm, don't fire the arrows. Order Fan Shoutu to prepare for a feigned retreat."

"Here."

"Take Liu Yun out and let Li Cungui's men see him."

"Here."

"One hundred paces, signal with flags."

"Here."

Xiao Yi stared at Li Cungui's banner and promptly notified Li Rong. Suddenly.

On the snowy official road, a rider suddenly came into his sight.

It was Liu Jiye.

Instead of maneuvering eastward, he suddenly turned back and broke through Fan Shoutu's defenses. All of his soldiers had been killed in battle, and he was covered in blood, his iron spear turning red with blood droplets that splattered in the wind.

"Stop him!"

It was too late for Fan Shoutu to mobilize troops.

Liu Jiye's steed seemed to take flight, galloping at breakneck speed.

"ambush!"

"There is an ambush. General Li, halt..."

"Do it!"

Xiao Yi decisively snatched the command flag from the messenger and swung it down heavily.

Bugles suddenly sounded, drums roared, and cavalrymen suddenly charged out from the reeds.

"kill!"

Mu Lingjun and Fan Shoutu's troops immediately changed direction and charged towards Li Cungui's banner.

At this moment, Li Cungui's vanguard cavalry had already rushed within thirty paces, and he hastily reined in his horses.

"Eh-"

Many warhorses neighed and reared up, causing riders behind them to crash into them, resulting in falls and tumbles.

Xiao Yi could see clearly from the wall that Fan Shoutu's cavalry charged into the enemy, while Li Rong's ambush was divided into two teams, left and right, flanking from the sides.

Although not completely surrounded, it has created a sufficient advantage.

Li Cungui's banner swayed and retreated.

Liu Jiye, however, charged into the enemy lines, protected his general clad in silver armor, and fled westward.

"Don't let Li Cungui leave!"

"The one in silver armor and a red cloak, Li Cungui, do not let him escape!"

"..."

Seeing the two sides fighting westward, out of sight of the ruined trees and walls, Xiao Yi mounted his horse, spear in hand, and gave chase.

Upon arriving at the banks of the Qin River, they found that Tianxiong's army had just surrounded Hedong's army.

Looking across the river, on the enemy side, Li Cungui's reinforcements had just bypassed Qinzhou City and were heading this way; on our side, Li Rong had already sent his son Li Shoujie to lead troops to circle around from the rear, and their banners were already visible in the southwest direction.

As long as we can capture enemy generals and flags, drive away defeated troops and break through enemy lines, we can replicate the victory we achieved when we took Huazhou.

Xiao Yi calmly surveyed the area and discovered that Liu Jiye was protecting Li Cungui and the banner as they broke through the encirclement. Because of his bravery, some of his soldiers had calmed down and formed a battle formation around him.

"Follow me to take the enemy's head!"

Xiao Yi charged forward on his horse, with Jin Sanshui, Shou Tao, and other subordinates guarding him on either side, some wielding short swords and others holding shields.

He then picked up his gun, killing several men in succession, and rushed behind Liu Jiye.

One shot thrust out.

"clang!"

Liu Jiye parried with his spear, then coiled his spear around like a venomous snake and thrust it diagonally upwards.

Xiao Yi also swung his spear to deflect the attack, but Liu Jiye used the momentum to flick the shaft of his spear, striking Xiao Yi's tiger's mouth with a powerful "whoosh".

excruciating pain.

Judging from this move alone, both of them were agile and highly skilled with their spears, but Xiao Yi knew that the difference in strength between them was too great.

After several more moves, Liu Jiye used his weight to generate force, chopping and smashing; Xiao Yi used his resilience to deflect the force, dodging and thrusting.

"Oh!"

The gun barrel struck again.

Xiao Yi's mulberry wood staff was bent under the weight, while Liu Jiye wielded a pure iron spear, which was heavier and more powerful.

This time, his hand finally broke open, and it was both painful and sticky. He almost couldn't hold the gun, so he had to lean back to dissipate the force and avoid Liu Jiye's sweeping attack.

His rhythm was disrupted, and he could only rely on skill and horsemanship to dodge, instantly putting him on the defensive.

He suddenly realized what those he had killed with a single shot felt like in their final moments.

"So you are Xiao Yi?"

Liu Jiye suddenly shouted and asked.

Xiao Yi did not answer, taking the opportunity to adjust his breathing.

next moment.

Suddenly, a flash of silver light appeared before my eyes.

Xiao Yi quickly dodged to the side, almost falling off his horse, only managing to stay upright thanks to his waist strength.

Blood splattered before my eyes.

His vision was blurred; all he could see were the clatter of hooves and weapons, and the roars of his soldiers as they desperately tried to save him.

In that brief moment, Liu Jiye thrust his spear straight at his neck.

The Zhongping Spear should have belonged to his more proficient thrusting spear technique, which was passed down from the Yang family's Pear Blossom Spear. Unexpectedly, it had become a different kind of power in Liu Jiye's hands.

He was stabbed?

He felt as if death was right in front of him.

They also heard Liu Jiye's mocking laughter.

"But that's it..."

"clang!"

An arrow struck Li Cungui's helmet with a loud thud.

The soldiers of the Tianxiong Army surged forward, shouting, "Kill Li Cungui!"

Startled, Liu Jiye abandoned his entanglement with Xiao Yi, grabbed Li Cungui's reins, ordered his soldiers to cover their retreat, killed a few panicked Hedong soldiers blocking the way, and fled far away in an instant.

Xiao Yi pulled hard on the saddle, flipped back onto the horse, and gasped for breath.

Ignoring the chaos around him, he touched his neck with his left hand and found a bloody mark on his palm. There wasn't much blood, but he was injured.

so close.

At this moment, he couldn't help but reflect that he had only chosen Murong Yanchao and thought that the famous generals of the world were nothing special. Today, he had been given a wake-up call.

When he came to his senses, Li Rong was shouting at him incessantly.

"Messenger, order Li Shoujie to cut off the enemy general's retreat and not let Li Cungui escape!"

"Damn it, charge in!"

"..."

Xiao Yi bandaged the wound on his neck and was about to mount his horse again when he suddenly saw a troop of cavalry galloping from the east, carrying the banner of the Tianxiong Army.

"Report——"

"General, this is a messenger from the Commander-in-Chief."

"Great!"

Li Rong was overjoyed and shouted, "The army has arrived! We can take Jinyang in one fell swoop and grind that old Liu Chong to dust!"

"Wan Sheng! Wan Sheng!"

The worries that this vanguard had carried all the way were finally dispelled at this moment.

The horse finally galloped up in front of him, and the rider, his face blue with cold, pulled on the reins and tumbled off the saddle.

Xiao Yi rode over and took the urgent military order sealed with sealing wax.

He unfolded it, but was taken aback.

He spurred his horse toward Li Rong, who was in high spirits, and said, "General..."

"Never mind me, watch me personally charge into Qinzhou."

"General, the Lord has given orders!"

Xiao Yi grabbed Li Rong's arm tightly and, as calmly as possible, conveyed the order word by word.

"The vanguard must immediately halt its advance and retreat to Xiangzhou!"

"What? We finally made it here..."

Xiao Yi was also unwilling to give up.

He swallowed a mouthful of cold air, feeling as if his lungs were about to be pierced.

This was certainly not a good opportunity to conquer Hedong, and the failure at the last minute inevitably caused a sense of frustration.

The image of Liu Jiye thrusting his iron spear kept flashing through his mind, making him realize his own mediocrity.

There was a moment of disappointment.

But when he turned to look at the towering mountains east of the river, his eyes still burned with an unyielding spirit.

If you are not as strong as others, then train hard.

When we return to the east bank of the river, we will surely climb this high mountain.

(End of this chapter)