Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The night sky is filled with stars, and the moonlight shines softly on every corner of the earth.

The wind was blowing long and hard, and the green sea of ​​grass that should have been creating ripples was now filled with only flying dust.

In the direction of the burning campfire in the distance, felt tents stood densely together, forming a temporary huge tribe.

There were several war horses around the tent, and there were quite a few horses connected together. The crowded horse trough seemed a bit hot, and the sweat on the horses evaporated, filling the air with a peculiar fishy smell of livestock.

There were also cavalrymen holding torches walking slowly around the periphery at night. Occasionally, where the torches illuminated, there were people wrapped in felt and sleeping.

The big tent in the middle was brightly lit, with figures cut out by the firelight on the surface of the tent. The burly Xiao Yi and Xue Zheng paced back and forth in a rage, feeling a little suffocated as they watched the chiefs holding silver bowls and drinking wine in big gulps.

When his whereabouts were exposed during the retreat today, he really wanted to order the army to turn around and kill those bastards, but he had no choice as he still needed them.

but……

The light of the wine pouring into the bowl made his expression even uglier.

"We lost the battle today, and the good situation has been ruined, yet you still have the leisure to drink here!"

Some angry figures stopped, Xiao Yixue looked at the tribal leaders with different expressions, the anger in his heart was still a little unbearable, and finally said: "I will not pursue who shouted today."

The figures who were drinking and eating meat below stopped for a moment, looked at each other, and their eyes were flickering.

Xiao Yixue took a breath and said, "It's just that the disintegration today was too fast. If you guys are just determined to do this, you'd better not think too much about the things in the south. Go back and wait for the arrival of this year's winter to see how many people will die."

Inside the tent, sturdy figures with bald heads and braids, gold rings in their ears, or gold chains around their necks gradually put down their wine bowls, and the silver wine vessels flashed a unique light under the firelight.

"We are also citizens of Liao." Zubugudu said in a deep voice: "If we encounter a disaster, shouldn't the court help us?"

He slammed the table fiercely, and looked at Xiao Yixue fiercely with his fleshy face: "This time, our Zhubu tribe sent out the most warriors without hesitation, and now even a general from my palace has died in the battle. Just for this matter...shouldn't the court help me?"

"Yes, many warriors from our Dadan tribe died in battle, many of them during the siege. The court should help us."

"We, Ulia, have not been idle either. On the way here, we served as scouts and fought against the Qi army. Our achievements are no less than those of others. If the court needs to take care of us, it will take care of us first."

"An Dalimi..."

"We..."

Excited figures were banging their hands on the tables and talking loudly, making the scene almost as noisy as a street market in the city.

"Enough!" Xiao Yixue yelled with a red face. He originally wanted to use words to pressure these tribal leaders, but he didn't expect to be forced by the other party instead.

With his chest rising and falling sharply, the Khitan official looked back and forth at the big men, his eyes flickering as he spoke: "It's no problem for the court to support you, but don't forget, you took the initiative to attack Qi's Northern Frontier Protectorate this time, do you think Qi will let you off easily?
You have seen Wugudilie's predicament, is he still half as powerful as before?"

The expressions of all the leaders froze. They were so focused on asking for benefits that they forgot about this matter. No one talked about surrendering to the old dynasty. The fight had already been fought, and if they turned against them now, they would have to worry about being liquidated in the future.

"Then what should we do? Continue attacking the Northern Frontier Protectorate? Or retreat? General Xiao should also give us an idea." A sturdy leader of the Dadan tribe cut a piece of mutton and stuffed it into his mouth, staring straight at Xiao Yixiu over there.

"There are at least 10,000 Qi cavalrymen in the city now. They are all veterans who started their careers in Qi. Although we have a large number of people this time..." Xiao Yixue paused, looked at the people who were a little restless, and sighed: "More than half of them are herdsmen who are running along. If we have a head-on confrontation, they will wait for their morale to collapse and lead the army to run away together, which will not be a good thing."

Zubu Gudu frowned: "So they are retreating?"

"Are you willing to retreat?"

Xiao Yixue turned around and went back to his seat and sat down. He picked up the wine jar and poured out the fragrant wine. He looked at the leaders who were "flirting" with each other, drank the wine, wiped his mouth and said, "There are only a few suitable pastures east of Wugu Mountain. Now you have taken them and spit them out. I am unwilling to accept this."

"That's... true."

"Originally, several of the Eight Dili Tribes were here..."

"It's a good place..."

The chiefs of different sizes spoke to each other in low voices, and their eyes met with each other's, flashing with understanding.

The Darimi chieftain, who had a bald head and braided hair on both sides, frowned and said, "But the grassland here has also suffered a lot of damage."

"It's like this year, it can't be like this in the future."

"Call the warriors from the tribe to defend this place first."

"That's right, there's no reason to spit out the meat you've eaten!"

"Someone is coming——"

Xiao Yixiu didn't say anything at this time, he just poured wine, squinted his eyes and watched the leaders call the tribesmen in, and listened to their instructions to go back and bring more capable soldiers from the tribe.

He slowly picked up the wine bowl filled with wine and drank it in big gulps.

He has done everything he can, hoping to buy some time for the southern court to catch its breath.

……

At this time, Lu Bu got off the Red Hare and handed the reins to Wei He. His fat figure led the fiery red warhorse to the place where the horses rested at the back.

They had already passed Linhuang Prefecture, and many generals in the surrounding cities requested to fight. Lu Bu would of course not let everyone come, and only agreed to allow E Quanzhong's troops stationed in Linhuang Prefecture to come.

This long-faced man, who was the first to follow him, is now middle-aged and has a child. His figure has also changed from well-proportioned to strong, but he still follows Lu Bu as before.

"Your Majesty has not been to Linhuang Prefecture for a long time, and you did not come in to take a look this time."

"I just left a year or so ago, what's there to see?" Lu Bu walked into the big tent, and a personal guard came forward to light the lamp, and the flickering light illuminated the figures of several people. Walking to the seat and sitting down, Lu Bu breathed a sigh of relief: "It's the same when I come back from the north. What's going on? Has anything happened recently? Don't stand, come and sit."

E Quanzhong's long face glowed red in the candlelight. He walked over and sat down after hearing what was said. "Someone raised the grain price before. When Governor Lu found out, he killed the person. I am preparing to report it to Your Majesty."

"That's decisive." Lu Bu nodded and praised: "Maintaining stability is still the main thing now, but it seems that these merchants still need to be disciplined before they know the rules."

Then he frowned slightly: "But we must also be careful of the Liao Dynasty court's tactics, um... Yu Cheng!"

The commander of the guards on duty came in quickly.

"Go and tell Wang Zheng about this and ask him to come up with a set of rules."

"Here."

E Quanzhong said nothing and just watched Lu Bu thinking and giving orders. He was not good at these things. Even now that he was promoted to General of the Imperial Guards and led the Imperial Guards, it was all thanks to the help of his brothers An Renmei and Su Ding.

Even though some people advised him to learn more about how to manage the army, he still felt distressed about it. There were some things he was not good at, and he could not learn them just by working harder. Compared to the trivial matters in the army, he still liked the feeling of holding a knife and chopping the enemy one by one. At least...

No effort required.

The army stayed near Linhuang Prefecture for only one night before packing up and continuing northward. Along the way, they received food and grain from counties and prefectures along the way. They also saw officials walking on the country land, checking the soil for seedlings and teaching them how to prevent and control locusts.

These were all requested by the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel. Most of them contained some prevention and control measures compiled by Yang Bangyi, Li Zu, and An Daoquan. Although there were no insects seen here yet, since it was an order from the imperial court, no official in Qi dared to slack off.

Lu Bu did not stop his troops to disturb them. Now he still focused on the affairs of the northern border. Even though he did not think that the army he led would lose to the barbarians on the grassland, he still maintained due caution towards them.

In the middle of summer, the news that the Northern Frontier Protectorate had been relieved was brought into the army by knights who traveled 800 miles in an emergency. When the Qi cavalry who were marching in a long dragon formation heard the news, they cheered, put aside their worries, and quickened their pace.

A few days later, Red Hare walked with steady steps towards the rolling mountains and plains in the distance, surrounded by a large group of armored cavalrymen guarding him. Yu Cheng and Wei He turned their heads around from time to time, looking at the uneven grassland, listening to the movements of various insects and birds, and distinguishing whether there were any other unusual sounds.

Wang Zheng swayed with his warhorse, following behind Lu Bu. He was originally listless, but he couldn't help but straighten his back and look around at the scene in front of him. From time to time, he lowered his head to look at the land where the horse's hooves had passed: "Tsk tsk... Li Zhu has released so many insects into the grassland, what a sin."

"It's quite a lot after all." Lü Bu in front of him listened to the words, and turned his head and smiled while swaying slightly. "I heard him say that for this matter, he sent people to the grassland several times. He was afraid that many people would freeze to death in the severe winter, but the result was far beyond his imagination."

"This is no less serious than the locust plague in the 29th year of Tonghe." Wang Zheng shook his head and chuckled, "It is said that the locusts destroyed crops back then, and many Khitan nobles were forced to migrate west to the Kerulen River. They clashed with the Zhubu tribe over pastures, and the two sides fought on and off until more than a decade ago when the Zhubu tribe was finally subdued."

Lu Bu said "Oh?" and turned to look at him: "Isn't this a repeat of the past?"

Wang Zheng rubbed his prickly chin and said, "Isn't this the case with everything in this world? It's the same things over and over again."

"...That's true." Lu Bu raised his head and laughed, then repeated in a louder voice: "That's true."

The guards around him turned their eyes to look at the emperor who seemed to be in a very good mood, then turned their eyes away, and the expressions on their faces relaxed a lot.

Your Majesty is in such high spirits, so there should be no worries in this battle!

The sun sets and the moon rises, yin and yang rotate.

The night gradually enveloped the sky and the earth, and lights in the Protectorate were lit one after another, but it seemed that there was a lack of the lights of thousands of homes. Many people could not sleep at night because they were thinking about all the things in their mind, and some knelt in front of the tablets of their deceased relatives and cried. The intermittent crying sounds spread in the silent night, causing those who could not sleep to sigh even more.

In recent days, the collapsed houses in the city have been cleared, patrols on the city walls have been strengthened, and the number of soldiers on night duty has increased a lot. The people have seen all of this.

Exciting.

Moreover, the Liao troops retreated, and most of the people walking in the streets were cavalrymen who came to support. Even food and supplies from the ancient city of Jumu and Jingbian city in the east could be delivered, which should have put the people in the city at ease.

However, soon more news came in from outside the city.

To the west, the troops of the Recruiting Office did not retreat. Instead, they recruited more troops to cross the Wugu Mountain and come to the main city of Talan and the Pibei River City. The dust raised by the war horses covered the sky, and the mighty cavalry gave people a feeling of stopping the flow of water with a single whip.

This undoubtedly increased the worries of the people in the city, and many people were afraid that the Liao people would attack again.

Outside the city, the troops of the Jurchens, Han people, and various ethnic groups were stationed together, forming a pincer attack with the Hedong City.

In the military camps, continuous bonfires were lit, sparks rose into the night sky, and soldiers gathered together, occasionally chatting about the battle in front of them, while more figures were sharpening their weapons with whetstones.

The night patrol team walked past the large tent in the center. The lights inside were on and human figures were clearly visible on the tent. Soldiers carrying barbecue and naan lifted the tent curtain and walked in. Several generals in command were talking in low voices in front of a feng shui map.

"The scouts ahead sent news that the Liao army has increased its troops significantly. Now there are already 70,000 to 80,000 troops gathered in the east of Wugu Mountain. They are just hiding around these two cities. However, I suspect that these are not all of them. There should be reinforcements that have not yet arrived."

Du Yu took a branch and drew a circle on the map, then tapped it twice: "From the looks of it, they are preparing to reach out and firmly occupy this place."

Shi Wengong frowned and suddenly asked, "Let's take it down and see?"

"It doesn't make much sense." Wanyan Loushi shook his head: "The Liao soldiers this time are probably the best soldiers in the tribe. Unless we can defeat them in one battle, they will gather again soon.

But they won't give us this opportunity. Xiao Yixue has suffered several defeats and won't bet everything on one throw. He will definitely stay put.

And don’t forget, there are the Naiman tribe to the west of the Zhaotao Division. I wonder if these people will support the troops here.”

"We also have to be on guard against their attacks." Wang De rubbed his chin, and the features on his ugly face were squeezed together: "If we send out troops, they will use cavalry to contain us and then take advantage of the situation to steal our nest. I'm afraid it will be difficult to deal with it."

"Hedong City can't stand another hard battle." Du Fu threw the branch aside and took a breath: "Although I also think that what General Wanyan said makes sense, I still have to weigh the weight of these cavalrymen before Your Majesty arrives."

He looked at the three people opposite him and said, "I think, let's take turns to test it out."

"It's better to do it now than to wait for a day." Shi Wengong raised his head: "I'll go first."

A breeze blew into the tent, and the flame flickered. (End of this chapter)