Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

War is not about you punching me and I kicking you.

Three days before Wanyan Loushi arrived in Jingzhou, Di Lei, who was far north of Danzhou, had replaced Zhao Li as the vanguard and continued to advance southward.

However, having learned from the previous experience, the descendant of Di Wuxiang did not dare to march forward recklessly. He deployed many scouts along the way, but he did not discover the ambush of the Liao army until he was fifteen miles away from Miyun.

The scouts at the front also reported back that the area outside Miyun City was well-fortified and cleared, as clean as a blank sheet of paper.

Di Lei secretly thought that after Ji Anbang and others led their troops to attack Zhao Li, they returned to the city for defense.

However, the young man was also cautious and did not lead his troops directly to the city of Miyun. Instead, he sent a fast horse back to report to Xi Sheng.

"It is correct to be cautious. The Liao army has acted out of character and must have other tricks up their sleeves."

Amid the roar of footsteps, Xi Sheng's voice was heard, followed by Lu Zhishen and several generals nodding, agreeing with him.

Xi Sheng lowered his head and thought for a long time, then raised his head and said, "Let Wanyan Chanchun's cavalry go forward, and tell Di Lei to be careful and alert, and retreat immediately if anything goes wrong."

"Send out more scouts to explore in a fan-shaped formation, especially on the left and right sides. Pay attention to the dense forests and valleys."

People around bowed, and then more scouts ran in all directions.

……

In the midday sun, the birds flying in the sky chirped.

On the ground, the general who was sitting on the roots of a dead tree stood up. The scout who came back from the north had his face covered with dry mud and there were some leaves stuck in his helmet, which were obviously traces of his previous disguise.

"Reporting to the commander, the Qi army has stopped fifteen miles north of Miyun."

"Didn't go any further?" Wu Yanguang's tall figure loomed over the scout, frowning as he looked at him, "Did the Qi army send anyone back?"

"Yes." The scout said in a deep voice, "I saw several fast horses heading north. I think they are returning to urge the army to come."

"...That's quite cautious." Wu Yanguang snorted and tapped the palm of his left hand with the whip in his right hand.

"Father, should we defeat the Qi army's vanguard first?" The young general next to him looked at his father who was thinking and said anxiously, "Before their central army arrives, we should defeat part of them first."

"No, it's useless to just defeat their vanguard. We need to wait for Xi Sheng to arrive and defeat him before we can head east to find the other two Qi troops." Wu Yanguang raised his whip and clapped it with a snapping sound. "And the emperor's army is definitely in this direction. We still have many battles to fight, so we can't rush."

He turned to look at his scouts and said, "I will give you another 300 men. Keep a close eye on the Qi army's movements. If you see Xi Sheng's flag, report back immediately."

The spy bowed, and many cavalrymen rushed out of the Liao army's formation. These scouts hurriedly galloped north again.

……

Dark clouds obscured the sky, and the birds active in the spring cried out, flapped their wings in panic, and flew away.

Below, a warhorse was shot by an arrow and fell dead on the green ground, its four hooves twitching. The scout from Bei'an Prefecture climbed up, and a black shadow came flying behind him, nailing the tree trunk he was running past, splashing some wood chips.

He turned around, took the crossbow in his hand, and shot an arrow at the pursuing cavalry.

puff--

The blade lost its power and cut him half a foot above his head. The scout bent down, reached out, grabbed the saddle, jumped up and lay on the horse's back. Arrows kept flying past him and a comrade fell off his horse in front of him.

The figure on the horse took a breath, whipped the horse repeatedly, moved forward quickly, and gradually escaped from danger.

After a short killing, the bald knight dismounted, cut off the dead man's head, and hung it under the horse's neck.

In other places under this sky, scouts were constantly fighting, escaping, and chasing, and small-scale fighting gradually formed.

……

The wind was cold and the light was dim. Wanyan Chanchun, riding a warhorse, marched quickly among the cavalry. He received many warnings from scouts along the way. He didn't want anything to happen at this time, so he ordered people to return and report to Xi Sheng while he was lost in thought on his horse.

At some point a crowd of people appeared ahead of them. The warhorses were slowing down. Wanyan Chanchun was absent-minded, but he slowly pulled the horse tight with his hands, and the galloping horses stopped there.

The horses made panting sounds, and some of the Jurchen cavalrymen looked at Wanyan Chanchun, then at the general flag with the word "Di" on it, and waited silently.

In front, the soldiers and horses separated. Di Lei came over with his spear in his hand. He looked Wanyan Chanchun up and down, frowning in surprise: "General Wanyan? General Wanyan?"

"Hmm...ah?" Wanyan Chanchun's eyes widened, and he woke up instantly. He glanced around and said, "It's General Di. What's the matter?"

Di Lei frowned: "General Wanyan didn't notice anything wrong when he came here?"

"What's wrong?" Wanyan Chanchun responded instinctively, then thought for a moment and said, "It's a little strange. Many scouts were attacked. I have already sent a message to the commander."

Di Lei nodded, then looked at Nan Fang in silence.

……

"That southern barbarian Xi Sheng is still too cautious."

Hiding quietly in the forest, Wu Yanguang looked at the scouts who came to report and made a decision: "Send a message to Ji Anbang and ask him to send out troops as bait.

Tell Aliqi that he will be the vanguard and charge forward!"

A tall and majestic figure stood up: "Get on the horse, get on the horse, and prepare to fight--"

Shadowy figures stood up and the sound of laughter could be heard amid the noise. Wu Yanguang nodded with satisfaction. These were the soldiers who had followed him to fight against the northwestern barbarians. Just by hearing them laughing at this moment, he knew that their morale was high.

……

Twenty miles away, Xi Sheng held the reins and rode on the road of Danzhou.

On the way south, he frowned secretly as he watched the cavalry going back and forth and the fighting between scouts. Since he captured Shangjing, he had not encountered such a warlike Liao army for some time. There were dozens of scouts on his side alone who were killed or wounded.

On the way south, one could even see Liao scouts lying dead on the side of the road. Judging from the traces, they must have been dragged from the road to the side by their own scouts.

It was getting dark, the troops were marching in a winding manner, and the soldiers in front were deployed in battle formation. Xi Sheng glanced at Lu Zhishen and took a breath: "All troops, be on alert."

Looking at Di Lei and Wanyan Chanchun who were riding over, he said, "Tell the scouts to continue to check forward."

Then he looked back and thought for a moment: "Come here, tell Zhao Li in the rear army to retreat another three miles and set up camp."

Just as he finished speaking, a cavalryman with arrows on his body came running back from a distance, waving his arms and saying, "The Liao army has left the city, the Liao army has left the city."

……

creak-

The tightly closed city gate slowly opened, and the new Han army in armor filed out one after another. The swords and spears in their hands flashed coldly in the spring breeze. They were all newly polished and looked very sharp.

"Tsk, even though you are the commander of the army of Tanzhou, you still have to obey their orders."

Zan Tongmei glanced at the commander beside him and said, "Your Majesty's promise to let us lead the army alone to achieve great things has finally been broken."

"I can understand this." Ji Anbang's expression remained unchanged: "Don't say that this is our first time leading an army into battle. Anyone would have doubts. Wu Yan has led the army in battles for more than ten years, and most of the battles he participated in have been victorious. If it were you, who would you choose?" Zan Tongmei frowned, opened his mouth but didn't know what to say, and muttered after a long time: "This is different."

"Okay, stop complaining. As long as we win a few more times, we won't be controlled by others in the future."

Ji Anbang said, grabbing the reins on his horse: "Pass my military order, form a battle array, and attack the Qi army——"

The roar ended, and countless footsteps were heard. The war horses stretched out their four hooves, stirring up the dust on the ground, and headed towards the Qi army battle formation that formed a black line in the distance.

The ground shook slightly. Xi Sheng took a breath and shouted, "Form a formation and advance."

In front of the Qi army, the words "Shield soldiers step forward." "Bows and crossbows are ready." rang out in the sky, and ox horns were blown in the sky. The troops behind followed forward, and the cavalry protected the two wings. As they marched, the shield soldiers gathered to shorten the distance between people.

Although there are many newly recruited soldiers in the Qi army, there are still veterans who have fought for several years, and the army expanded with them as the backbone is still a capable and combat-ready army.

Dust was flying on the opposite side, and 30,000 newly trained Liao troops were marching forward in a crowded and chaotic formation.

On the warhorse, Xi Sheng frowned as he looked at the scene in the distance. He always felt uneasy in his heart. He finally decided to trust his intuition. He waved his hand fiercely and overturned the previous order: "No, tell them to stop and form a battle array on the spot."

Woohoo——

The ox-horn was blown at a different rhythm, ordering the cavalry to gallop, and the voices of shouting rang out in every battle formation. Di Lei and Lu Zhishen looked back and saw the military flag waving in the air and changing color, so they hurriedly stopped their advance.

A roar of "form a formation--" was heard, and the outer shieldmen stopped and poked hard into the ground, putting down the brackets of the large shields. The shields were connected in a trapezoidal shape facing outwards. Some of the battle formations were connected by iron shields, and some left gaps to allow two war horses to pass at the same time.

Gradually, an army of fourteen to fifteen thousand people formed a circle, with long spears and iron spears sticking out in the middle, archers pulling out arrows and thrusting them into the ground, and war horses circling around the "iron barrel" in the center of the battle formation, and smoke and dust gradually rose.

Boom boom boom——

The Liao army's war horses galloped up, like an oncoming wave, and suddenly pounced over in the next moment, crashing into the neat and orderly circular formation. The iron-clad shields as tall as a person shook violently amid the roars of the shield bearers, but finally stopped where they were.

The long spears and iron lances pierced through the flesh and blood, chiseled into the human body, and lifted the body weighing more than a hundred pounds into the air. Blood flew out from the place where the body burst. The warhorse and the human body, together with the iron shield and long spears in front, formed a terrifying picture.

In the rear, Ru Tingqi, who was commanding the cavalry, was furious: "Detour, detour!" He turned his horse's head and led the elite cavalry beside him to throw an arc, trying to find the flaw in the battle formation in the rear.

"squeak--"

The sharp sound of the flare arrows came into Ru Tingqi's ears. He instinctively lowered his head. In his sight, various trapezoidal formations released arrows. The black arrows flew across the sky, shooting people off their horses with a whizzing sound.

"Damn it, go away--"

Ru Tingqi was not careful and was shot in the chest by an arrow. Fortunately, he was wearing triple Tang Ni armor when he went into battle. Apart from some pain in his chest, he was not injured. However, the elite cavalrymen beside him suffered. Many of them screamed and fell off their horses. Soon the sounds disappeared on the path where the horses were traveling.

In the back, Ji Anbang looked at the battle formation of the Qi army in front of him, his eyes jumped suddenly, and he turned around and shouted: "Come here, inform the commander Wu Yan, the elite of the Qi army, and ask him to support quickly."

"Order the front army to continue to advance, order Zan Tongmei to lead the army to attack the left, and the rest of the people to follow me to attack the right wing!"

He raised his head, looked at the distance, and took a breath: "Crossbowmen, prepare——"

The bow and arrow were raised at an angle, and with a thunderous "Release", arrows shot across the sky like locusts.

On the opposite side, arrows were also flying across the sky, and horses were galloping in the battle formation. Cavalrymen carrying Wanyan flags went around the passage left by the army and fiercely charged towards Ru Tingqi's troops who were taking a detour behind them.

The Liao army, stunned by the arrows of the Qi army, suddenly saw the cavalry charging out of the battle formation. They were caught off guard and were immediately cut in half. Wanyan Chanchun waved the sword in his hand frantically: "Don't entangle, move, move!"

The cavalry galloped, turned, and moved clockwise towards the right wing of the battle formation.

Ji Anbang was leading the Liao army over there, and when he saw this, he shouted "Fight!" The cavalry did not approach them, but penetrated into the battle formation and shield formation of the Qi army. The dust they raised flew in the battle formation like snakes, and they rushed out from the other end and killed the unprepared Zan Tongmei's troops.

Fighting, shouting, and screaming continued to sound in front of this circular battle formation.

In the distance, the Han commander of the Liao Kingdom widened his eyes, his face turned pale, and his hands holding the reins turned pale. With the command "Keep moving forward!", the Liao army infantry marched forward with shields.

Arrows flew up between the two battle formations, hitting each other's shields with a crackling sound, and some soldiers who were not well prepared fell to the ground with casualties.

The next moment, in close combat, a thunderous fireball with sparks was thrown out from the Qi army formation.

boom--

The sound was like thunder, and people and horses fell to the ground.

……

The setting sun was blocked by clouds in the west, and only a ball of light could be felt.

The earth was shaking more and more violently amid the roar. Xi Sheng looked at the large cloud of dust rising from the southwest with a gloomy face. He exhaled a foul breath and squeezed out a word from between his teeth: "Ambush..."

He glanced around and shouted, "The enemy has several times more troops than us, but their fighting spirit is not as good as ours. Let's hold on!"

In front, a large number of cavalry were rushing from the horizon and sprinting towards this side. Xi Sheng looked at the rising smoke and estimated that there were about two thousand cavalry.

"God's arm bows move forward, and shoot when the cavalry get close!"

"Raise the bloody flag and prepare for a bloody battle!"

In response to the complex and calm command, the soldiers panicked for a moment, then gradually calmed down. The blood-red flag representing the crisis was raised, making a rustling sound in the cold wind, which made the eyes of the officers who saw it gradually turn bloodshot.

"Prepare for attack—" Lu Zhishen wiped the blood off his face, looked at the smoke rising in the distance and shouted loudly.

The ground was crushed by the horse's hooves. A general riding a silver fist-flowered horse with a pear-flower-pointed steel spear in his hand was leading the way. In Lu Zhishen's sight, he did not stop and crashed into the big shield with a loud bang.

The long spear with intricate patterns in his hand pointed at the shield, and the shield that had withstood countless arrows, sword attacks and spear stabs suddenly shattered. The long spear pierced through the debris scattered in the air and stabbed into the chest of the shield bearer behind. Then he kicked off his horse, turned the spear and rushed in to kill.

Behind him, there were cavalrymen strung up in the air, and some followed the general in charging.

"Death - Eight -"

Lu Zhishen immediately realized that this was a fierce general. He looked at the sword in his hand, hung it on his waist, looked around, and grabbed the long pole with the military flag hanging on it.

Seeing the Liao general in front of him kill three or four shieldmen in the back, and then cut a gap, he opened his mouth and shouted: "Stop being crazy, you Liao dog, I am Lu Zhishen here!"

The thick combat boots weighed down the soil, and a figure wearing large armor ran over like a black bear, swung the thick flagpole in his hand, and swept over with a roar of "Hah--".

The Liao cavalry who were following up came forward to protect the general, but they were hit and flew away by Lu Zhishen's flagpole without paying attention.

The long pole continued to move forward with unabated momentum, and the military flag with the word "Qi" on it fluttered, sweeping fiercely towards the Liao general holding the pear blossom-patterned steel spear.

bang——

The spear was thrust outward, and the flagpole slammed heavily on it. The two men on the horse and on the ground suddenly felt their arms go numb.

The Liao general on horseback roared "Ah--" and pushed the flagpole out with force. Lu Zhishen took a wrong step on the ground and stabilized the general flag.

"What a strength..." The general on horseback was wearing a white silk robe with three phoenixes embroidered on the back, and a pair of linked iron armor. He looked at Lu Zhishen with some surprise and pointed his spear: "The southern barbarians have some tricks, remember -"

Yungen kicked the warhorse off with his eagle claw boots: "The one who killed you is Aliqi!" (End of this chapter)