Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The light shone through the gaps in the clouds, and the breeze blew away the thin sand kicked up by the horses' hooves.

The man and the horse looked at the towering city wall in front of them in a miserable state. Two ancient characters "Changning" were carved above the city gate. Xiao Yu was wearing a dirty military uniform. His armor was taken off and tied to the saddle behind him. His cracked lips trembled slightly as if he wanted to make a sound, and then he fell to the ground with a bang. The yellow earth was shaken up by his weight.

The people in front of the city gate screamed and scattered. Some kind-hearted people rushed forward to help him. They first used their hands to feel his breath, then raised their heads and shouted, "He's still alive. He must be exhausted. Bring some water. Who has water?"

"I have it here!"

A merchant took off a water bag from his waist and handed it over. He looked at the armor tied to the warhorse and saddle and said, "He is still a fighter. He must have retreated from the front line."

As he spoke, the man slowly fed the water to the person lying on the ground. He did not dare to give him too much at once, but just poured it out and kept it in, repeating this several times. It was unknown whether Xiao Yu was awakened by the cold water or he really fainted due to lack of water. After pouring it out several times, the prince consort moved his fingers and then opened his mouth to pursue the cool liquid.

The man who was feeding him water did not hesitate when he saw this. He directly put the water bag to his mouth and was ready to feed him water slowly. However, he did not expect that as soon as he took a sip, the man on the ground suddenly opened his eyes, grabbed the water bag and drank it in gulps.

The man stretched out his hand and shouted twice, "Hey, slow down, no one is snatching it away." But when he saw Xiao Yu didn't stop, he put his hand down and stopped talking, shaking his head and sighing, "Oh, how long has it been since I last had a drink of water?"

"Thank you." Xiao Yu breathed a sigh of relief and ran away from the fighting in Ying Xiao. God knew how much effort and energy he had put in. He took advantage of the confrontation between the Qi army and Li Ji and others to sneak away from behind. The thought of the blood-thirsty soldiers still made him shudder.

Even when he left the vicinity of the battlefield, he didn't dare to take the main road. He walked up and down, taking small paths. It was the desire to survive that supported him, otherwise he would have collapsed in the forest somewhere.

Xiao Yu forced himself to sit up from the ground. He didn't want to owe these peasants any favors, so he reached into his pocket to take out the money, but found nothing. His face suddenly changed, and he quickly lowered his head to buckle his belt again.

The man and the merchant watched Xiao Yu searching left and right, looking embarrassed, and shook their heads: "Forget it, forget it, we just saved you for the sake of convenience, we don't want your money, so don't look for it."

As he stood up and left, Xiao Yu raised his eyebrows and raised his voice slightly: "Wait, I don't have the habit of owing money to others."

He turned around and searched on the warhorse for a while, and found that he really didn't bring a single copper coin. The prince consort narrowed his eyes slightly, then pulled out the scimitar hanging on the side of the warhorse, with the blade facing outward, and pushed it towards the two men: "I came out in a hurry, and I don't have any money with me. You can use this knife to exchange for money."

How could the two dare to take it? They took two steps back and kept saying, "No... No, no!"

"We are just a helper."

Xiao Yu stretched out his hand and said, "Just take it if I give it to you."

A soldier guarding the gate behind him looked over and hesitated whether to go forward.

"No, no, no, this general, it's really not necessary."

"It's just some water. No need to thank me. Goodbye!"

The two men backed away, shaking their hands in a row, and then turned and ran away. One could vaguely hear: "This coarse fellow is not a human being."

"You are so kind, damn..."

"This is what you don't want!" Xiao Yu shouted finally, sheathed his sword, held his horse and took a few breaths before leading the horse towards the city gate.

Although there is no risk of dying of thirst or hunger, people are still physically exhausted.

The soldiers at the city gate looked at Xiao Yu strangely, then ignored him. As long as this man didn't cause any casualties at the city gate, it had nothing to do with them. As for the rest...

He glanced at the armor tied to the warhorse, then turned to look at the other people entering the city.

The rest doesn't matter.

A man and a horse walked into the city among the crowd. Half of Xiao Yu's face was covered with mud. He panted and moved forward mechanically. He was thinking whether he should go to the provincial government to reveal his identity. He escaped from the battlefield in such a miserable state. If people saw him and spread the news in the court, they would definitely not leave him face. When the time comes, the princess...

Thinking about his spoiled wife, Xiao Yu felt a sudden headache. She was very concerned about her reputation, and if he let her know about his miserable state, it would probably take a long time for her to make a fuss.

The noise from the street market came into his ears. Xiao Yu looked up at the busy civilians, looked at those coarse linen clothes, walked gently to the side, and his nose wafted into the aroma of grilled meat on a stall nearby. Suddenly, a thundering sound rose in his stomach, and his eyes could not help but glance over. The roasted golden skin was just right, and there were some dark red pieces of meat, and the grease on the charcoal was dripping.

"Gulp——" Xiao Yu swallowed and turned his head with difficulty.

Forget it, people can’t really starve to death!
Holding the warhorse's hand tightly, the man walked towards the provincial government office, thinking about how to phrase it so as not to embarrass his wife.

The provincial government office was not far away, but Xiao Yu was very tired at the moment and could not walk fast. After dawdling for a long time, he looked at the soldiers standing at the gate of the government office and just breathed a sigh of relief, looked at himself, and smoothed the braids on both sides of his forehead before he took a step forward.

The soldiers guarding over there had seen him "struggling" with his horse not far away, and when they saw him coming, they raised their hands to yell at him to go away.

When-when-when-

The sound of the golden bell rang out at the city gate. Xiao Yu stopped and his expression changed. The faces of the soldiers guarding the provincial government office were also very ugly, but no one wanted to pay attention to Xiao Yu who was approaching, and someone quickly ran into the provincial government office.

Xiao Yu turned around to look at the direction where the sound of the golden bell came from, pondered for a moment, and pulled his horse to the side of the road. In just a moment, he saw several officials running out of the gate with their official robes lifted. The clothes of the person in front of him made his pupils shrink. It was clearly the governor of Ningzhou.

"Quickly, organize people to go to the city gate and tell the soldiers and civilians to go home and avoid the danger. Don't offend the generals of Qi. Put down the flags on the city walls and replace them with white cloth. Tell the defenders to come down and stand in position! Oh, by the way... don't take your weapons. Go quickly."

The prefect gave a quick order, and someone ran out quickly. He straightened his clothes, then turned to the officials from the prefecture government who came out from behind and said, "You also straighten your official uniforms and follow me to welcome the Qi army into the city."

As he walked, he glanced curiously at Xiao Yu who was standing by the road. However, time was pressing and these officials were in no mood to pay attention to him. They all swarmed towards the city gate.

Xiao Yu waited until these people were far away before spitting: "Cowards!"

Then he sighed and continued to go hungry.

He patted his mount, which was also in a bad condition, and jumped onto the horse. With a "gig!", the man and the horse quickly ran towards the direction of the city gate where the sound of the golden bell was not heard.

The people at the city gate just watched the Qi army coming, they should not have surrounded the city yet, and if they went in the opposite direction, they could probably get out of this dangerous situation. The sound of horse hooves rumbled in the distance, and the ground trembled slightly. The fluttering Qi flag caught the eyes of the people at the city gate. Dong Ping, Hu Yanzhuo, and Yelu Ma Wu rode to the city gate with their guns in hand, looked at the Liao officials standing neatly at the gate, and then rode forward.

The three of them were also furious about Xiao Haili's injury. They were previously assigned to guard the central army, and they had thought that they could make up for their sins by making merit on the battlefield. However, they did not expect that the Liao army was so useless that their morale was completely destroyed after being charged by the king. The entire army was defeated, and the three of them failed.

Now, they had finally found a vanguard to serve as the eyes and ears of the army, and even specifically talked to Wang De and Wanyan Zonghan about the affairs of Huizhou and Longhuazhou. They had also been mentally prepared for the other side to surrender before coming, so they felt somewhat relieved when they saw them now.

With the merit of capturing the city, he would accept the title of military leader even if he returned, at least he would not be demoted to the lowest position.

"Please stand up, wise governor. If you can recognize the current situation and turn from darkness to light, we will not make things difficult for you." Hu Yanzhuo stepped forward, stroked his beard, and spoke to the few people with a kind face: "The king is leading the central army behind, so we should clean the city gate first to welcome the king."

"Yes, yes, the general is right." The prefect was overjoyed when he heard this, and turned around and said, "Isn't he listening to what the general said? Quick! Find someone to clean the gate of the city, the king will be here soon."

Servants rushed out immediately, and soon, the figures at the door started to move. Only the prefect was talking with Dong Ping, Hu Yanzhuo and the other three. He laughed from time to time and praised the three of them, while extending his hand to invite them into the city to take over the city defense to show that he had no ulterior motives.

Soon, the big flag with the word "Lu" on it was seen from afar by the people on the city wall. Amid the shouting, the people below hurriedly finished their work and lined up in several rows waiting for the arrival of Lu Bu in the distance.

The dust gradually settled amid the shouts of "stop". When the men and horses separated, Red Hare nodded, carried Lu Bu on its back and walked out of the battle formation, with a group of people kneeling in front of him.

"Your subjects pay their respects to the King of Qi!"

……

In Tongchang City, some people organized troops.

There were more than 6,000 people, and the marching team was also very mighty. The dust raised by their footsteps and horses' hooves could fill the sky. However, Yelu Dezhong felt a little sad when he sat in the car. Before he set out from Shangjing, the army had 80,000 cavalry and infantry, and 160,000 young and strong men and forced laborers. How could they be compared with these 5,000 people?
The horses and knights beside him were all looking around vigilantly, but he felt extremely disgusted in his heart. He simply let down the curtain, leaned back on the cushions and closed his eyes. The big bump on his head was still aching, so it was better to close his eyes and rest. After all...

Out of sight is pure.

Scouts on war horses were running around, bringing intelligence back to the central army from time to time, but Yelu Dezhong had no intention of examining them and sent them all to his son to handle.

"This Pharmacist Guo..."

"Brother, what's wrong?"

Yelu Zonglei looked at his eldest brother curiously. As early as when he and his son evacuated the battlefield, the resentful army had already begun to withdraw. However, unlike the father and his four sons, the resentful army suffered heavy losses and was scattered by the armored cavalry. At this time, there were only two generals, Guo Yaoshi and Zhen Wuchen, and more than a thousand people here, while the rest of the commanders such as Zhao Heshou were nowhere to be found.

"He said he wanted to gather his old subordinates to continue working for Dad."

Yelu Zongyun clapped his hands holding the document and said, "This is a really loud flattery."

"He is probably showing his loyalty by saying he is afraid that Dad will give up on him. Otherwise, he could just come and tell me. Why bother writing?" Yelu Zonglei said thoughtfully, "He only has a thousand men here at the moment, and his soldiers are scattered. He is probably uneasy."

"...Maybe." Yelu Zongyun clapped the document in his hands and said, "But this battle is not his fault. His men were unlucky to run into the Qi army's armored cavalry twice. When we return to Nanjing, let him go find his old subordinates."

The noise of horses galloping on both sides was heard. The two brothers who were talking sighed for a moment, and looked up at the soldiers beside them with dejected expressions, both of them looked unhappy.

"...If we could also transfer some armored cavalry from the army, we wouldn't be so passive." Amid the sound of horse hooves, Yelu Zonglei suddenly spoke: "It's a pity that the court is controlled by traitors, and military intelligence is not heard by the people. Otherwise..."

"Why are you talking about this? It's all in the past." Yelu Zongyun shook his head, handed the document to the guard beside him, and stroked his chin: "But you can ask Pharmacist Guo to send someone to look for his old subordinates now. It will be too late to return to Nanjing, and..."

As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes: "Sanlang, your words reminded me that when I was chatting with my cousin Guozhen before, he said that there was a set of armor in the armory of Nanjing Road..."

Yelu Zonglei's expression brightened: "If that's the case, let's try to form an armored cavalry."

"I still need to discuss this with Dad."

The older brother narrowed his eyes, then he and his brother rode towards the carriage.

……

To the north, a floating bridge was built across the Dafu River.

The wind blew across the spacious river surface, bringing up waves. The cavalrymen whose legs and feet were wet wrung the water out of their trouser legs and mounted their horses again. Wanyan Loushi pinched his trembling arms, his heart beating pounding.

"Dad, what are you..."

Wanyan Huonu glanced at her father, scratched her cheek with some worry, and said hesitantly: "How about... you see a doctor?"

"Hmm?" The puzzled father looked at his son, then noticed his gaze and patted him on the shoulder: "What are you thinking about? I am excited."

He grabbed the saddle, stepped on the stirrup, and climbed up with all his strength, then lifted the reins and tied them in place: "When I followed Du Bojilie to start the rebellion, I thought that one day I would be able to enter Linhuang Prefecture. I thought it would take a few years, but I didn't expect that Shangjing is right in front of me now!"

The warhorse seemed to sense the excitement of its master, and it moved its body and snorted loudly. Wanyan Loushi stroked its mane, his eyes burning with passion: "If we can achieve our wish and conquer Linhuang Prefecture this time, I, your father, will be willing to die immediately."

"Dad, why do you say this is unlucky?" Wanyan Huonu's face twitched, she shook her head, and jumped on her horse: "I think we can definitely capture Shangjing this time."

Wuwuwu——

The horn sounded as he finished speaking. Wanyan Loushi shouted "Hoo!" and reined in his horse to run towards the large banner with the word "Qi" in it.

The figures on the floating bridge gradually stepped onto the other side, and then the roar of horse hooves sounded again. (End of this chapter)