Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The earth shook with a rumbling sound.

Zhai Jin stared at the enemy less than a hundred feet ahead, and without thinking, he waved the spear in his hand and issued an order.

The next moment, the horn sounded among the cavalry.

The tightly-packed charging formation slowly dispersed as they ran. The galloping Song army knights hung their spears on the sides of their horses in accordance with the command and took out their bows and arrows with their backhands.

The two brothers of the Zhai family made a lot of preparations on how to deal with Song Jiang's tens of thousands of troops with weak forces. There had been thieves causing chaos in the west of Beijing in previous years, but none of them was as powerful as Song Jiang's. The two brothers also took him very seriously.

The arrows on the opposite side flashed with metallic light. Zhai Jin's figure rose and fell as his horse ran. As his sight swayed, his eyes were fixed on the movements of the thief's hands. Almost at the moment when his arm pointed diagonally, he said, "Spread left and right!"

The law——

The warhorse raised its head and neighed, its body tilted slightly, and it stomped the ground with all four legs, then galloped to one side.

The bandit soldier drew his bow and shot his arrow high into the air. The arrow soared into the air with a broken "shoot" sound.

Arrows flew across the sky like locusts.

Sun Li slowed down his horse, turned his head to look behind him, his eyelids twitching wildly: "Oops!"

Large pieces of mud flew into the air under the horseshoes. The cavalry, which had already been scattered, ran in two arcs to the left and right. Dense arrows fell, landing on the open ground with "bang bang bang".

The cavalry of the Song army were all recruited from the countryside of Henan Prefecture. Although their morale was three points stronger than that of the regular army, they were not from a horse-riding nation, so their riding skills were just passable.

Dozens of people were unlucky enough to be shot by arrows, and some fell off their horses directly. Some were not injured. Those whose horses were hit by arrows were thrown off the horse's back with screams, and fell to the ground with a "bang" without a sound.

Zhai Jin looked back at the cavalry following him, raised his hand while galloping, and pulled the longbow into a full moon. On the other side, his son Zhai Liang was doing the same thing. The soldiers following behind him were already ready, and the arrows in the hands of hundreds of cavalry also reflected the sunlight from above.

A voice shouted: "Shoot!"

Boom boom boom——

A series of bowstring vibration sounds.

Hundreds of arrows fell in arcs from both sides.

A large amount of blood splattered, and arrows shot at the figure without armor or shield. The person who was shot suddenly screamed and fell to the ground. More feather arrows pierced the ground, and the white tail feathers exposed outside swayed slightly.

There were gaps in the standing bandits' line here and there. Figures lying on the ground were crying and wailing, but more were silent, and the smell of blood filled the air.

The sound of horse hooves rumbled, and the cavalry separated to the left and right, drawing an arc and began to run back the way they came.

Zhai Jin turned around and watched most of the cavalry catch up. He took a breath and looked back. In his sight, the bandits under Sun Li were obediently surrounding him. However, when he saw these cavalry turn around and rush towards him again, he was stunned and stood there at a loss.

"Change guns, chisel—"

The scarlet battle robe made a unique sound as it galloped, and Zhai Jin let out a huge roar.

In the Song army that was returning in a roundabout way, Zhai Jin held the lance tightly on horseback. The Song knights who were originally shooting arrows put away their bows and switched to lances after shooting the last wave. Hearing the order to attack, they were like hedgehogs with spikes erected. They put their legs together on horseback, bent down to clamp the lances, and rushed forward with a bang.

Sun Li's eyes widened as he watched from behind. He had spent a lot of effort training this bandit army. When he escaped, he had planned to have other soldiers intercept him and his own men surround him. Zhai Jin's cavalry should be able to be left behind, but...

“Run—” All the blood drained from Sun Li’s face and he let out a loud roar.

He previously thought that this man relied on the Western Army to suppress them, but now he has realized that Zhai Jin's use of troops is much more powerful than he thought, and now he is using cavalry to attract his soldiers together.

In an instant, they were caught in a passive situation, but even if they understood the situation now, it was too late.

The bandits in front and behind were mostly clothed soldiers, not regular soldiers wearing armor and helmets. Although they encountered ordinary government troops, these people were invincible with their bravery and numbers. However, facing the cavalry whose morale was also inspired, they seemed extremely fragile. The already loose formation began to collapse. Some turned around and ran, while others could not withstand the pressure and fought desperately instead.

"Ah ah ah ah ah……"

The roar of horses' hooves trampling the earth could not cover the hysterical roars.

The next moment, a heavy spear pierced into a human body, and the galloping warhorse knocked the stunned figure in front away. The warhorse charging at high speed crashed into the bandits under Sun Li's command. The person flew up with screams, and dark red blood mixed with fragments of internal organs gushed out of his mouth. Someone fought back, but just as he raised his hand, the spear pierced through his chest, and the whole person was hung on the spear and pushed forward.

"Damn it, come forward and support——"

"Shooter, shooter, move forward!"

Seeing this, the brothers Jie Zhen and Jie Bao shouted in panic. Their followers hurriedly ran forward. Sun Li's face turned pale and he suddenly shouted, "Don't move forward. Defend where you are!"

Jie Zhen and Jie Bao looked back at him in astonishment, and heard Sun Li sigh on his horse: "Be careful of the other party turning around and attacking again."

The two brothers of the Xie family obeyed his orders and led their men back, taking defensive postures with longbows and steel forks in front and behind.

Shouts and screams rose to the sky ahead. More and more cavalrymen passed through the bandits of Sun Li's army. The sounds of roars, neighing horses, and breaking bones merged together.

Zhai Jin, who was in the front, charged diagonally in the direction of his son's cavalry on the other side. During the fight, he looked back and saw that the bandits behind him had not moved. He sighed, turned his head and roared, "I have ambushed troops in front of you. Come and die if you want."

Then he turned around, fired his gun and killed countless people. He rode his horse faster and faster. After the two separated cavalrymen reunited again, he rode away into the distance.

Under the bright sky, no more than 600 cavalrymen plowed two bloody roads among thousands of bandits. The surviving minions stood in the distance, still in shock, looking at their companions who had become minced meat, looking at the distance, and shuddering.

Not long after, more than 20,000 bandits, led by their respective leaders, rushed over.

Song Jiang looked at the battlefield being ravaged by the government cavalry with a sullen face, then turned to look at Sun Li who looked a little ashamed: "Where is Zhai Jin?"

Sun Li moved his lips, raised his hand and pointed in the direction where the soldiers had just left, and said in a low voice: "That guy said he had an ambush ahead..."

"...Ambush." ​​Song Jiang's dark face trembled, and the hand holding the hilt of the knife at his waist exerted force, gritting his teeth and saying, "This guy is really arrogant."

"What ambushes?" Li Kui patted his chest behind Song Jiang and said, "Brother, give me Tie Niu 500 soldiers, and I can chop off his head and kick it like a ball."

Someone nearby snorted coldly, making Black Whirlwind furious. He drew the axe from his waist and said, "Who is dissatisfied?!"

Song Jiang looked around and saw that the Duan family, Sun Li, Jie Zhen, and Jie Bao all looked unhappy. He suddenly shouted, "Tie Niu, shut up."

"...I am telling the truth." Li Kui muttered softly, but seeing Song Jiang getting angry, he didn't dare to speak clearly, and his mumbling voice made it difficult to hear what he said.

"Professor." Song Jiang took a breath and turned to look at Wu Yong: "Do you think Zhai Jin is telling the truth?"

The wise man who was named stroked his beard with his hand, thinking in his mind, and hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Brother, if Zhai Jin came from Henan Prefecture with a large number of troops, everyone would know about it by now. It can be seen that he does not have many troops under his command, and only a cavalry unit is very powerful."

Several leaders nearby listened to him with frowns on their faces, looked at each other, some nodded, some remained silent, and Wu Yong took two steps while continuing to speak.

"If we are talking about an ambush, today he led the cavalry here and ambushed us in advance. He used the speed of the horses to attack me without my being prepared, giving me the upper hand. If we are talking about a head-on attack, from the fact that he did not forcefully attack Jie Zhen and Jie Bao's troops, he must have been afraid of losing too many and thought he didn't have enough troops, so he retreated."

Wu Yong suddenly turned around and faced everyone: "If he has an ambush, why don't they ambush here? If so, they can defeat our army. So I think he led the cavalry from Henan Prefecture to Ruzhou first, and his troops may be no more than a thousand. Even if there are reinforcements behind, it will take some time for them to arrive."

Song Jiang raised his eyebrows and said, "So, there are no soldiers under his command in front of us now?"

Wu Yong nodded, but still didn't dare to say anything final: "Not many if there are." "Okay." With narrowed eyes, Song Jiang gently patted the hilt of his sword: "Pass my order, the entire army will pursue Zhai Jin's troops. Since he invited us to chase, we will really chase them."

He clenched his fist and waved it in the air: "Take away his horse and armor. They are all ours."

"Yes!"

Lei Yingchun and his wife, Lei Heng, Shi Jin and others responded loudly, with excitement on their faces.

……

The sun moves to the west, and the temperature becomes hotter in the afternoon.

Su Yuanjing was wearing a wide robe with big sleeves, his forehead was covered with sweat. He found a cool place to sit down, and a soldier of the imperial guards came over with a water bag and handed it to him.

The general in front of the palace was not polite. He raised his hand and gulped down half of the water bag. He wiped the water stains from the corners of his mouth, found a shaded place to sit down, fanned himself with his sleeves, and asked, "Where are we?"

"General." Dang Shiying took off his helmet, wiped the sweat off his face and walked over: "Longxing County is another fifteen miles ahead."

"Take a break." Su Yuanjing exhaled and changed his sitting position: "Let the soldiers take a break too." He glanced at the figures who were almost lying on the ground with their heads down and their armor drooped: "This road is rough... Even the soldiers can't stand it."

Dang Shiying's face twitched, and he subconsciously looked at the unruly imperial guards. He was too embarrassed to say anything bad about them, so he just nodded and clasped his fists, "I'll let them rest for a while, and we'll set off in three sticks of incense."

Su Yuanjing nodded, which was considered as his agreement.

Dang Shiying immediately walked to the open space, and the word of the order to rest echoed in the shade of the trees, attracting cheers. Immediately, everyone unbuttoned their armor, exposed their chests and hid in the shade of the trees to cool off.

The sounds of laughter and bragging gradually rose.

……

The light in the sky gave an illusion of dimness, the air was filled with dust, the roar of footsteps resounded on the ground, and figures of different heights, weights and bodies looked vigilantly at the road ahead, while hurrying forward according to the news sent back by Dai Zong and Liu Tong.

After walking for less than ten miles, there were more and more trees on both sides. Each tree was so thick and tall that it took several people to hug it. The mountains were undulating and uneven. There was no sound of birds flying around, only the occasional chirping of insects, indicating that there was still life here.

Song Jiang frowned. This kind of area was the easiest to be ambushed. Could it be that what Zhai Jin said was true?

The mountain breeze blew under the sky, and under the rustling woods, several figures walked hurriedly, then stopped, looking at the horse hoof prints swept across the ground, their faces turning blue and black.

"The footprints are broken..."

"It's like tying branches to ropes and dragging them away."

"Continue searching along this trail?"

The standing figure's chest kept rising and falling, and his face was flushed from running. It was the sentinels led by Dai Zong and Liu Tong under Song Jiang. Behind them were three bandits who were also good at running. At this time, they were bent over and panting, looking at Dai Zong and the other two with admiration.

Dai Zong shook his head: "The situation has changed. Since they used branches to cover the horse hoof prints, it is appropriate to report back to my brother."

After saying this, he asked Liu Tong to take the three of them to wait here, and he ran back to meet Song Jiang and told him the situation.

"professor……"

Ji Shiyu instinctively turned his head to look at Zhi Duo Xing. Wu rubbed his beard with his hands and said thoughtfully: "This... must be an attempt to cover up the truth."

He looked at Song Jiang and said, "Zhai Jin's men are all cavalry, and they are faster than us. If they have an ambush, there is no need to cover up the traces. So I think we should advance quickly and chase after his troops."

Dai Zong opened his mouth, but Wu Yong held out his hand to stop him: "After a battle, Zhai Jin's horses must have suffered heavy losses. Even if we are infantry, we still have a chance to catch up with them."

The Speedy Man over there shut up again.

Song Jiang nodded: "Good, tell them to speed up."

At that moment, Dai Zong turned back, and the sound of the bamboo whistle urging the soldiers to move forward vibrated in the air, and the bandits, who still numbered more than 20,000, immediately tried to move forward.

……

"It's time to set off."

Su Yuanjing looked at the sky, stood up, pounded his legs, and got on the horse that the soldiers had brought over.

"I will pass on the order right away."

Brothers Dang Shiying and Dang Shixiong clasped their fists and quickly ordered the people below to set off.

Suddenly, a sound of wailing and sighing was heard among the soldiers of the imperial guards.

Su Yuanjing frowned, and the Dang brothers were so embarrassed that they walked up to the guards and kicked and punched them to speed up.

The team seeking amnesty moved forward again.

……

The sky gradually moved westward.

The dazzling sun ignited itself, burning the western clouds red.

Shi Jin, who was walking in the middle of the front army, turned his head to look at the surrounding forests and mountains. The mountains on the left gradually rose upward. It seemed a little indescribable in the evening, and he just felt uneasy instinctively.

There was a noise in the back. Shi Jin turned around and saw Zhu Wu riding his inferior horse. He said, "Brother, something is wrong."

"Hmm?" Shi Jin did not stop, his eyes fixed on the bend. A cliff came into view. The yellow and red rocks were exposed and looked very steep.

Zhu Wu grabbed his bridle and repeated, "There are no insects chirping or birds flying here, things are not ..."

tie--

A clear clapper sounded.

Shi Jin and Zhu Wu were startled and looked around quickly. Before they could find the enemy, a large black shadow fell from above. In their peripheral vision, it looked like a stone.

bang——

Blood splattered, the warm blood splashed on his face, and the smell of rust went straight into his nostrils.

"Enemy attack——"

Screams exploded among the crowd, and then more stones mixed with arrows fell from overhead.

Chaos is spreading. (End of this chapter)