Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The golden sun rose into the clouds. Under the slowly moving clouds, countless figures holding guns and knives ran towards the north under the leadership of generals.

The siege of Huanglongfu was a huge shock to the cities in the south. Ever since the Qi army went north, the defenders of Xinzhou had completely relaxed their supervision over the north and the south. They only sent soldiers to build beacon towers on the border with the Liao Kingdom. They never expected that an order would be issued from the rear to hand over all the defenders to the command of Suoli Yishi and let him lead the troops to break the siege. The generals of Xinzhou quickly assembled 3,000 soldiers and prepared the food and fodder they could carry with them. Regardless of everyone's complaints, they handed them over to Suoli Yishi and rushed back the next day.

On the day of Ji Mao, the army that had hurried from Xinzhou to Weizhou took a rest. The soldiers who had been rushing all the way were dissatisfied with Sori Yishi's urging despite their fatigue. The Bohai and Xi soldiers in the army were even more unwilling to go north to fight against Qi, and they rebelled. Sori Yishi, wearing double heavy armor, led nearly 200 cavalrymen who had rushed out from Huanglongfu and rushed forward. He killed several Bohai and Xi people in a row before the officials suppressed them. After a fight, many soldiers were injured, and they had no choice but to continue moving forward with more than 2,300 intact soldiers.

On the last day of late summer, Suoli Yishi and Weizhou defender Wanyan Xishi met at the military camp outside the city. The two had a total of 4,500 troops.

"You..." The Jurchen general who greeted them looked unhappy: "Why do you look like you have been in a war?"

In the sight, most of the soldiers in khaki uniforms looked tired, and some of them had dark brown blood on their bodies. The armor of the knights riding horses in the front had many scratches, and there were dried blood stains on the horses, mixed with the dust brought along the way, which had already condensed into wisps and looked dirty.

"Don't mention this." Suo Liyi's face was not much better: "First, we should find a way to rescue Huanglong Mansion."

"Of course." Wanyan Xishi looked anxious. "But where should we go? I sent spies to investigate. There are fortifications outside the four gates, and cavalry patrols outside. It's not easy."

"How could I not know?" Sori Yishi said in a deep voice, "But you and I are both cavalrymen. As long as we are careful and attack from behind, we will succeed."

The person next to him pondered for a moment and sighed: "It has to be this way."

Soli Yishi rode his horse to the side of the cavalry and shouted loudly: "Wrap the horses' hooves with thick cloth, hold the horses' mouths shut, remove the bells from the horses, and set off at sunset—"

Figures dismounted and started to get busy, and then a buzz of discussion arose.

……

It was almost the end of summer and the Qi army had been besieging the city for more than a week. Sometimes they would set up catapults outside the city and smash the city walls. Occasionally, the angry defenders inside the city would operate crossbows and catapults to fire outwards. After these minor fights, the Qi army would often use catapults to throw some poison smoke balls, which apart from making people uncomfortable for a while, did not cause much damage.

As time passed, the people in the city were on edge, hoping that the reinforcements from the south would bring some changes to the situation. However, they did not know that someone from Weizhou in the south had sent out scouts to explore in all directions, but most of them were killed by the Qi army's scouts.

On the first day of autumn, the temperature rises and the sunlight is quite hot.

The bright sunlight sprinkled on the woods, casting mottled light and shadows through the gaps between the branches. The sound of insects was a bit harsh. A team of less than two thousand people was resting in the woods, raising their water bags from time to time to drink cold water, fast horses were delivering information back and forth, and scouts were galloping in the fields, hills, and the edge of the city.

When the sky turned red, many knights turned around on their horses. The blue sky gradually replaced the bright light. When the cold moonlight shone on the primitive and lush woods, the crisp sound of hooves stopped, and the sound of insects stopped abruptly under the footsteps of people and horses.

The figure swayed in the moonlight, approaching Hua Rong who was sitting under a big tree. "There is something unusual over in Weizhou. They sent scouts everywhere in the past two days, fighting us to the death. Today, they disappeared since early morning, and we didn't see a single person from the other side until we returned."

"Has the Wanyan Army Sima known about this?"

"I have already sent someone to report it, and they should have known about it by now."

At night, a breeze blew through the woods, and the sound of branches swaying could be heard. Leaves fell on people's shoulders. Hua Rong stood up in the dark, frowning: "The enemy is so abnormal, they must make a move tonight. Go tell the Sima of Wanyan Army not to be impulsive when seeing the enemy's troops. They are all cavalry and cannot be left behind."

Hua Rong said as he picked up the silver spear leaning against the tree trunk: "Kill as many enemy soldiers as possible tonight, and send someone to the front to warn them. I don't believe they can do anything after being discovered."

The scout nodded, turned around, mounted his horse and ran away with several of his brothers.

Little Li Guang wiped his face as he listened to the horse's hooves going away, and pulled himself together: "Pass the order down, the Jin soldiers will go north tonight, and treat them well."

Whistles blew one after another.

The sound of insects disappeared in the forest. The whole world seemed to be quiet at this moment. The half-moon cast silver light, and black shadows were swaying and running, and then it returned to silence again.

distance……

The sound of horse hooves could be heard, and several war horses were galloping for several miles along a path opened up in the forest. When they were about to step into an ambush on both sides, they reined in their mounts and turned back.

Soon, an orange-yellow light appeared in the pupil.

"The Jin army is coming."

Hua Rong murmured something, stuck the silver spear into the ground, and picked up the precious bow.

……

"Speed ​​up, send someone to the back to urge them."

In the dark night, the moonlight cannot bring enough illumination to people. Torches like fire dragons ran across the field. The rumbling sound of hooves accompanied by the sound of Sori Yishi went far away towards the forest road. In the light blown by the wind, his face looked a little anxious. During the day, they were afraid that the target would be too obvious, so they did not dare to march to Huanglong Mansion. Although it might not be safe at night, the Qi army was now the dominant party and should not be overly cautious.

Taking a gamble, they rushed to Huanglongfu at night to launch a surprise attack on the Qi army.

This was the plan discussed by Suoli Yishi and Wanyan Xishi. After all, it was Du Bojile who was defeated by a night attack. This time, the two of them followed suit and let the King of Qi also taste the feeling of being attacked at night. If they succeeded, or if they took advantage of the chaos to kill the King of Qi, perhaps the Jin Kingdom could still turn the tide.

Naturally, there was no telling whether the Xinzhou soldiers under his command would escape, so he simply ran in front and Wanyan Xishi followed behind. If he found anyone escaping, he would kill them on the spot.

Less than five miles from the forest ahead, the scouts who had been sent out in front returned one after another. Their horses came over and circled behind him. "Report - no one has been seen in the forest ahead for several miles. Everything is normal."

Suoli Yishi nodded and said, "We'll explore forward later. You go to the back and pass it to General Wanyan first."

"Yes."

As soon as he finished speaking, he pulled the reins, and the fire dragon ran quickly past both sides in his sight, then turned to the back, and the horse's hooves made a roar.

……

Boom boom boom——

Countless horses galloped past, the dust was indistinguishable in the darkness, the woods in the distance swayed gently in the night wind, occasionally making rustling sounds, the firelight shone on Wanyan Xishi's face, flickering, he looked up at the night sky, and made a "tsk" sound: "Send a message to the front, tell them to speed up, if we continue like this, the sun will be high in the sky by the time we reach Huanglongfu, and then we won't be able to do anything."

The cavalrymen took the order and galloped out. Their figures twisted on the horse's back, and there was a slight scraping sound between the armor. Wanyan Xishi took out the water bag and took a sip: "What is ahead?"

"Commander in Chief, there are three entrances to the forest ahead." A guard who was specially recording the route said, and after a pause, "This is the closest to Huanglongfu. The other two entrances, one leads to Shangjing Road of Liao State, and the other leads to Hunhe River."

"So, this is a good place for an ambush. Don't enter the forest. Come on..."

The young general had just frowned and shouted when a cavalryman ran up in front and interrupted him.

"Report - Commander Sori-yi asked me to report that there are no enemies in the forest for several miles ahead. Everything is normal. Brothers in the rear army, please catch up quickly."

Wanyan Xishi was silent for a moment: "Go tell Commander Suoliyi to be careful." Watching the scout go away, the man took a deep breath, turned around and shouted: "Hurry up, catch up with the brothers in front, and let them see who is the slow one."

They had not traveled far, and were tasked with surveillance and rearguard duties. The horses under their crotch still had plenty of strength, so it was not difficult for them to catch up with the group ahead. They immediately sped up, and the rumbling sound of their horses' hooves sounded like dense drumbeats.

"Run faster..."

The forest ahead was silent. After putting the water bag back, Wanyan Xishi pursed his lips, then whipped the horse to speed up the warhorse.

After a while, the large group of cavalry shortened from the front and back to almost a group. Just as the horses in front stepped into the woods, a cavalry scout team of more than a hundred people galloped out and explored forward.

……

The wind blows by.

The leaves swayed with the branches, and the leaves rubbed against the branches, making a sound. The sound of galloping horses could be heard in the distance, and someone whispered, "It's the Jin army..."

"Don't act rashly!" Hua Rong frowned on his handsome face and clenched his bow arm: "He is just a scout of the front army, don't alert the enemy."

In a few breaths, the warhorse galloped closer. The knight in front slowed down his horse with a torch in hand. He saw that both sides were pitch black, and the darkness on both sides seemed to want to devour anyone.

"Don't stop." The scout leader who followed behind reined in his horse, looked at him and said, "Just look over here, run another five miles forward to explore the surrounding area."

A voice nearby said, "It seems like you didn't see it just now."

The commander said, "It's not too far off. The place we just saw is only a few hundred meters away from here. If we really want to search it carefully, we can't take care of it with a hundred or so people. Let's keep going and explore the surrounding area five miles ahead."

The rest of the people nodded as well, and then the team passed by. The person holding the torch at the back turned around on his horse, drew a few circles, adjusted his posture while running, sat back down, and continued running.

The cavalry behind increased their speed again and began to travel through the forest road.

Hua Rong stretched out his hand and pretended to pick up the arrow stuck in the ground in front of him.

Among the trees, the sound of horse hooves and rustling leaves masked the subtle movements, and everyone looked towards the first warhorse galloping past.

Little Li Guang squinted his eyes expressionlessly as he watched the cavalry running past. Some people couldn't help but want to raise their bows and arrows, but were held down by someone.

"The General has ordered that the front part should be allowed to pass. We should only fight the last part of the cavalry and leave them all here."

The man nodded repeatedly and lowered the bow and arrow to the ground. Suddenly, he heard a noise in the bushes behind him. He turned around and looked at the two bulging eyes. He moved his arms but held back again.

The army led by Hua Rong was an expansion of the previous Shesheng Camp. The veterans in the army admired Hua Rong's archery skills, and the new recruits also had a worshipful mentality after hearing so many stories about him. Therefore, no one objected to Xiao Li Guang's military orders.

The eyes stared at them for a few seconds, then moved forward, and some light shone on the figure.

Silly roe deer...

The frightened people did not know that the cavalrymen running ahead were also nervous. It was pitch black in the woods on both sides, and they always felt that someone was watching them. However, there was no warning from the scouts, so they were able to remain calm.

Wanyan Xishi rode his warhorse in the center of the team. There was no other way. Although there was a road opened in the woods, it could only accommodate three horses running side by side. Therefore, the Weizhou defender was carried from the leading position to the center by his own cavalry.

Well, there are no enemies after all...

After a long sigh, Wanyan Xishi seemed to have accepted his fate and rode away from behind.

Before he could exhale the last breath, he heard a noise coming from the bushes beside him, and the branches and bushes kept shaking. Wanyan Xishi's eyes suddenly lit up. He drew his bow, put an arrow on it, and released the bowstring towards the sound. A black shadow flew out of his hand and flew away in a spin.

The silly roe deer just happened to stick its head out and let out a mournful cry.

puff-

The heavy body fell to the ground.

"It's good that he's not a human." Wanyan Xishi breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that some of his personal soldiers wanted to go over, he shouted, "Come back, no more!"

Stuff the bow towards the bow bag.

……

"Golden gong ready!"

In the dense woods, Hua Rong, hiding behind a tree trunk, carefully watched the situation outside. His eyes, as sharp as an eagle's, swept over the man in command.

The golden gong's drumstick was raised, and figures around it stood up with wicked smiles, and arrows shot out from under the branches.

……

when--

The piercing sound of a golden gong was heard in the silent night sky. In the entire queue, the two leading generals were stunned at the same time, and then the next second, something unexpected happened.

whoosh-

An arrow flew over at the moment the gong sounded. Before Wanyan Xishi could turn around, the arrow pierced his neck and sent him flying to the side. Unfortunately, one of his feet was still stuck in the stirrup.

puff-

The head with the iron helmet fell on the road. The warhorse immediately let out a cry of "Gray, gray!" and ran away, dragging the corpse towards the woods nearby.

Whoosh whoosh—

Arrows were shot from the woods on both sides, and people kept falling off their horses in the dark night. The roar of "Enemy attack--" echoed far away in the night sky. Sori Yishi, who was further ahead, quickly reined in his warhorse and raised his sword: "Follow me quickly and rescue the brothers behind!"

Boom boom boom——

Deep in the forest, the sound of galloping horses can be heard. (End of this chapter)