Northern Dynasties

Chapter 488
Outside the Zhitang of the Chengfu in Heyang Beizhong Township, Xue Guyan walked up and down the corridor with an anxious expression, turning his head to look outside the mansion from time to time, but he never saw the person he was expecting.

"If you want to join the army, can you send someone to sue Da Sima? The bandits chase me to the south of the bridge, and they may launch an attack on Heqiao at any time..."

Finally, Xue Guyan couldn't help but stepped into the hall, and said to a subordinate official of Hu Lujin in the hall.

"The humble officer knows that Duke Pingqin's report is a big one, and he has immediately informed the battalion to prepare for battle. However, the soldiers are not allowed to leave the camp without the order of the Grand Sima."

The official quickly stood up and said to Xue Guyan: "Duke Pingqin is worried about the military aircraft and is eager to kill the enemy, but please wait for a moment. The government has sent several messengers on fast horses to report to Da Sima. Once the letter is received, Da Sima will definitely return as soon as possible."

As the chief general of Heyang, Hu Lujin has a lot of affairs in various aspects. Naturally, he will not stay in the city all day long and wait for something to happen. Today, he just went to the Hebei Racecourse to select horses for the next or crossing the Heyang to join the Henan battlefield.

The racecourse is not too far from Beizhong City, and it only takes a few hours to go back and forth. Even if there is no urgent military situation, it is already evening at this moment, and Hu Lujin must already be on his way home.

But Xue Guyan was very anxious at the moment, and every minute and every second was extremely difficult for him, so he started to swim outside the hall like ants on a hot pot.

"Xue Guyan, dog thief, don't go!"

Suddenly there was a gust of wind behind him, accompanied by an angry and irritable scolding sound, Xue Guyan hurriedly turned his head to follow the prestige, and saw Pan Le raised his eyebrows furiously and threw his halberd towards him.

Seeing this scene, Xue Guyan was startled in his heart, hurriedly retreated, but his back hit the pillar of the corridor, seeing the halberd hitting his head, he quickly raised his arms to block it, and his body was also taken away from the side. Passing through Pan Le's armpit to avoid it, he asked in a startled voice, "What does Duke Jinmen mean by this?"

"What do you mean? The thief forgot to order your soldiers to harm my subordinates!"

The enemy was extremely jealous when they met, Pan Le was not a good man and a believer, so he twisted his body and continued to attack without turning around.

"Duke Jinmen, please calm down, please calm down..."

At this time, everyone inside and outside the Zhitang was also attracted. Under the call of a Zhitang soldier, more than a dozen cross-sword guards rushed forward, and it took a lot of effort to separate the two.

Xue Guyan had been fleeing for most of the day, and was chased and beaten by Pan Le just now. If it wasn't for the long stamina that cut down more than a dozen knives that day, he might not be able to stand still now. The stagnation was almost overwhelming, and now he was pulled aside by several guards, raised his finger and shouted at Pan Le angrily: "Let go of this traitor! He deceived our army and came to humiliate me. He wants to die, why should I be stingy?" give it!"

"Dog thief, you forcibly broke into my pass to guard against me, and I haven't even questioned you yet, but your soldiers went to Nancheng to ask questions, but your subordinates cut off their ears and humiliated you! If it wasn't for this, why would I use you even if I have spare energy!"

Pan Le was still furious, and was about to throw his halberd at Xue Guyan, but was snatched away by a guard beside him.

"Nonsense! Lao Tzu's men and horses all lost Luoxi, and only a few of his entourage retreated back. Because there were no soldiers in Nancheng, they went straight across the bridge to ask for troops...Wait a minute, can you see what kind of person hurt your subordinate?"

Xue Guyan didn't bother to hide his embarrassment at the moment, and directly told the truth about his disastrous defeat. At the same time, he felt something was wrong in his heart, so he asked loudly.

"I knew your army was defeated, so I hurried into the city to ask the Chief Sima what to do, how can I go to the madman when I have time!"

When Pan Le talked about this, he also faintly felt that there was something strange, and learned from other people in the vicinity that Hu Lujin was not in the mansion at the moment, so he raised his finger and pointed to Xue Guyan and said: "Whether it is your general or not, you can find out when you go south! If the thieves pretend to be false, Nancheng will be in danger, if the army is defeated and the city is lost, you have committed a serious crime!"

Xue Guyan was also a little panicked at the moment, and he didn't dare to stare and continue arguing with Pan Le.Although no troops were recruited from Beizhong City, the Zhongli City where Pan Le was stationed had thousands of defenders, enough to go south to observe and deal with changes.

However, Pan Le naturally didn't have the obligation to borrow troops to give him, and the misunderstanding between each other was hurt again. His idea of ​​drawing troops back to attack immediately and make up for the mistakes was in vain.

So the two stopped waiting in the mansion, and left the city together to walk south along the river bridge. When they were nearly halfway there, they saw many soldiers lined up to defend in the north of Heyang Pass in front of them, and General Pan Lebu hurried forward to report Said: "My lord, a large number of soldiers suddenly flooded into the South Bridge, claiming to be Nancheng Fanbing. Because Nancheng was captured by the Western Thieves, the Fanbing in the city was expelled for their tribes to enter the city..."

Hearing this, Pan Le's face darkened immediately, and he turned his head to stare at Xue Guyan behind him and said angrily: "How many thieves are there? You didn't warn when you crossed the city! If I hadn't been vigilant and set up defenses, I'm afraid Zhongli City would have been punished." You are tired, and you are taken by thieves!"

Xue Guyan's face was ashen at the moment, he knew he was wronged and didn't dare to look at Pan Le, he just lowered his head and shook his head again and again: "This is impossible, this... the total number of thieves is only a few thousand, and they are so slow. Hundreds of riders traveled far away to chase me, it is impossible to seize the city so quickly!"

But whether he believed it or not, the fan soldiers who were crowded south of the Heyang Bridge at this time were real, and they howled and begged the guards to let them go and let them return to the safe area of ​​Hebei.

Naturally, it was impossible for the defenders to let so many people over. They just lowered the hanging baskets and hoisted some of them over the border for questioning. Xue Guyan was even more ashamed after hearing these soldiers tell the story of the enemy's capture of the city. Feeling ashamed, he looked at Pan Le and said loudly: "Sure enough, the number of bandits is small. Please, Lord Jinmen, lend me five hundred soldiers and let me lead them to attack the southern city. While the bandits are still standing, they will definitely be able to take back the city!"

After hearing the words, Pan Le pointed at the dark crowd on the river bridge and frowned, "Thousands of people gather here, and it's hard to tell the enemy from us. Maybe the thieves are lurking in it, and they will charge and kill me as soon as I let go of the switch."

"Thousands of these stupid men were unable to distinguish the enemy's tricks and were easily captured. After knowing the enemy, they did not dare to fight and kill the enemy. They were driven here by weak people and blocked my way. It is really not enough to die. What a pity! Why bother to distinguish between the enemy and ourselves, and kill them all the way..."

At this moment, Xue Guyan is full of thoughts of wanting to take back Nancheng, and he is even more annoyed by these left-behind soldiers who have done nothing, so he said viciously.

However, before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Pan Le: "Shut up! Isn't this situation caused by your incompetence? These Han soldiers are guilty, but they are not guilty of death. Even the Western thief Huairen let them go, but you have to make up for the mistakes you made yourself?"

Pan Le didn't want to massacre these Fan soldiers fleeing north, but he couldn't let them stay on the river bridge to affect the army's advance and retreat, so he pulled the boat over from the side, and screened out these Fan soldiers. Transfer to the north bank of the river.

After such a twists and turns, time passed quickly.Although Xue Guyan next to him was impatient, he had no right to speak in charge of this place, and he slandered Mrs. Pan Le's kindness countless times in his heart for delaying the battle, but he could only watch the night fall helplessly.

The front of the Heyang Pass was finally cleaned up, and the armored soldiers who had already been on standby behind the pass went out to defend the pass under the leadership of Pan Le.Pan Le did not stop this, he also needed to obtain some enemy intelligence from Xue Guyan immediately.

A group of people walked for a certain distance, and suddenly there was a silhouette of a fortress on the bridge in front of them, presumably it was a temporary fortification erected by the enemy.Pan Le then dispatched several infantrymen with shields and armor to move forward with torches in the other hand to observe the enemy's arrangement clearly.

When a few soldiers approached, the arrangement on the river bridge was exposed to the firelight. It turned out to be a fortress-like way of stacking many silks and silks. The draft sinks.

The soldiers who saw this scene exchanged and discussed each other in low voices, but Xue Guyan yelled almost like a conditioned reflex: "Don't go over, don't get close! This is a trick of the bandits, and my soldiers will definitely kill you before they enter. Let the rocket attack!"

Hearing that Xue Guyan's tone was so firm, Pan Le couldn't help but look at him thoughtfully, but he still raised his hand to signal the troops to stop temporarily, and sent a small team forward, hooking the pistols to those piled up The extremely high silk was scattered.

During this process, Xue Guyan kept his lips tightly pressed and his fists clenched, with a tense look ready to go. As the silk fortress was knocked down, a rocket shot from the opposite side. .

"Did you see it? That's exactly the case, that is... If you don't take precautions in advance, the formation will definitely be scattered..."

Xue Guyan quickly pointed to the trajectory of the rocket and shouted loudly, but when he saw that the rocket flew across the night sky and soon fell on the river, he shut his mouth in embarrassment.

Pan Le didn't pay attention to Xue Guyan, but probed forward and took a deep sniff, then walked forward for a certain distance under the guard of several armored soldiers, and bent down to look under the bridge section scattered with silk, Then his face suddenly sank: "The warehouse is full of ointment, the enemy army is indeed planning to stop it with fire!"

Although the surface of the river bridge is composed of iron cables and thick wooden boards, there is a row of pontoons underneath it as support.These boats make the river bridge structure thicker and can bear greater gravity, and when the storm water rises, it can also increase the buoyancy of the bridge body, so that the river bridge will not be completely submerged by the turbulent river.

However, in the pontoon under the bridge near the river bank, there are many clay pots filled with ointment. Once ignited, it will directly burn through the river bridge deck from below.

Holding the saber in his hand, Pan Le looked at the swaying soldiers on the bank at the end of the opposite river bridge, pondered for a while before waving his hands and said, "Turn back to Heyang Pass for now, and report the situation of the enemy here to Da Sima."

(End of this chapter)