Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The soil away from the river bank is a little dry, and small stones lie quietly beside the grass roots.

A dull roar vibrated towards this side, and the stone swayed slightly, and then shook more and more frequently. Under the trampling of countless footsteps, it jumped slightly on the ground, and then the big feet stepped it into the ground along with the juice of the grass leaves.

Thousands of figures ran forward from here, and then the wooden wheels of vehicles pressed the stone down two more inches. The wheel tracks passed by with the fishy smell of grass, leaving clear traces on the ground.

Dust was floating in the air, along with the sounds of groaning and complaining.

"Hurry up, speed up! You lazy bastards, you're still complaining after walking so many miles a day. Damn it, you're born lazy!"

"Run, faster—"

On the side, the Khitan and Xi knights were roaring at the infantry troops. In front of the cavalry, the leading general holding the reins would occasionally raise his hand to stop the soldiers behind him. Under the iron helmet with wolf hair, the earthy face frowned and turned around suddenly: "How many scouts have returned?"

"Come back part of it..."

"Come here, notify the central army and tell them that there may be changes ahead."

……

The direction of advance had different terrain. On the right was a wide river, and on the left was several hills, consisting of uneven hills. The Liao army was marching through a vast plain, occasionally passing by a few sparse woods. Looking over, it seemed that they could see the light on the other side. The half-human-high bushes blocked a lot of inward vision, and someone screamed in the dim space.

hum-

An arrow flew out from the forest, and a warhorse rushed out from the sparse woods, with arrows stuck in the man's back and the horse's buttocks. The moment the horse's hooves touched the ground, another arrow flew over. The horse with the arrow in its leg suddenly knelt down, and the scout wearing khaki leather armor above rolled on the ground for several rounds.

click-

The bloody half of the arrow shaft was left on the ground. Not caring about the scratches on his hands and face, he drew the sword from his waist and stood up.

From the rear, a Qi cavalryman wearing black leather armor rushed out of the bushes and slashed down with his curved sword.

bang——

The metal blades collided, sparks burst out in the wilderness, and the Liao army scout on the ground flew backwards, rolled on the ground, slid three feet away, then staggered to his feet, turned around and instinctively ran in the direction away from the Qi army scouts.

The scout at the rear did not stop his horse either. He pulled the reins, turned from the other side, and slashed again from the side. The Liao scout leaped forward with both feet and threw himself into the woods. The knight who had missed his attack looked coldly at the fleeing man, put away his sword and picked up his bow.

The sound of horse hooves could be heard in the forest, and two war horses rushed out. Wanyan Huo Nu pulled the reins and raised her hand to stop them: "No need to kill them, let them go."

The warhorse turned around restlessly on the ground and said, "Notify the others, forget about those who were not killed, and withdraw the troops."

"Here!"

The assembly whistle sounded from the hands of a rider at the side, and more than ten teams of scouts came over one after another.

Those who came were all Jurchen cavalrymen from the Northern Army. The five schools of the Northern Army were re-established, and Wanyan Huonu was selected as the Changshui Schoolmaster. Wanyan Loushi was afraid that he would be looked down upon, so he simply transferred those soldiers who had been with his son all year round from the army under his control. These people used to be scouts in the army, accustomed to fighting and hunting. Now that Wanyan Huonu followed her father south again, she naturally returned to this familiar position.

"Let's go and take a look at the high ground in the west." The young Changshui lieutenant pulled the reins: "If the Liao dog just runs slowly, hehe..."

The sound of horse hooves covered his voice, and dozens of cavalrymen raised dust on the plain and went away.

In the distance, the army from Zhongjing Road was still marching. The general of the front army received a report from the scout who escaped back, and hurriedly sent someone to pass the military information to Xiamo, the central army.

At this time, the commander of the army was taking the herbs from the military doctor and putting them into his mouth. His mouth was full of herbal juice and his face was wrinkled with bitterness.

"Can eating these reduce swelling?"

A slightly vague word came out of Xia Mo's mouth, and the military doctor beside him hesitated: "My lord, I am proficient in metal wounds, and I have dabbled in oral dentistry..."

He smiled awkwardly: "It's still a little bit lacking."

"Ah, that's enough, you can leave now."

Xia Mo waved her hand in disgust, intending to spit out the bitter herbal juice in her mouth, but also hoping that it would be effective. Seeing the cavalry running towards her, she knew something was wrong and her brows furrowed even more tightly. Seeing this, the military doctor quickly retreated.

Xia Mo waved and asked someone to let the scout come over: "What's the matter?"

He ordered the cavalry to stop their horses, jumped off their horses and walked forward: "Our scouts were attacked, and only half of them have returned."

"So fast?!" Xia Mo was shocked. He straightened up on his horse, not caring about his swollen cheeks, and asked: "Where did we get attacked? How many people are there on the opposite side? Have you found out where the enemy army is?"

"We were attacked three to five miles ahead, but we don't know how many people there are. A scout said it was the Jurchens' trick, but we don't know where the enemy army is."

"Order the front troops to slow down, the rear troops to quickly move closer to the center troops, and the left and right wings to be on guard against sneak attacks." Xia Mo turned to look at the followers, the green juice mixed with saliva in her mouth spraying in the air: "Go and ask a few generals and Xiang Wen to come over."

He wiped his mouth and said, "What kind of herbal medicine is so numbing? Tut tut tut, hehe——"

A ball of green water mixed with rotten grass leaves came out. King Xi rinsed his mouth with the water. While waiting, he felt his saliva accumulating continuously. He spat several times before it felt relieved.

After a while, several generals led by Dongxian Wenrong came over and looked at Xia Mo's swollen left face with some surprise. The commander of the army did not bother to explain his abnormality: "Just now, we received intelligence that many of our scouts died three to five miles away."

"People died, which means there are Qi troops ahead."

"That's right, but we didn't find the enemy's horses. I suspect they are just the vanguard of the Qi army."

Xia Mo rode to the outside of the army and dismounted. The other generals followed him and came over. Looking at the endless army, he said, "I heard that Lu Bu is good at cavalry. We must be careful of him leading his army to attack us by surprise."

"Why don't we use this place as the battlefield?" Dongxian Wenrong frowned, his whole body red, which made several generals dizzy. They all lowered their heads to listen to his voice: "Our army is not moving fast to begin with. Instead of continuing to drag on, why don't we set up camp here, relying on the protection of the military camp, and those damn new soldiers can also shoot arrows to help."

Seeing that Xia Mo and the other generals were listening attentively, he raised his hand and drew a circle: "Besides, the terrain here is open and close to Dading Prefecture. It will not be easy for Qi to attack us, and we can return to the city at any time. Why not do it?"

Xia Mo seemed to have forgotten the toothache for a moment and nodded vigorously: "Okay, let's do as Xiang Wen said."

The order came out of his mouth immediately, and the advancing troops stopped one after another after receiving the order. The soldiers in khaki clothes began to unload the cars, cut wood and build the camp. The outline of the military camp soon began to take shape.

……

On the hill, the grass leaves were shaking in the wind. Unknown birds were flying in the sky, chirping. Occasionally, there was a rustling sound. Someone was lying on the grass and moving his body, and then everything became quiet again.

On the top of the hilltop with the smell of earth, Wanyan Huonu quietly lay in the grass, watching for a while, then retreated with her hands and feet. When she could no longer see the scene in the distance, the Jurchen man squatted, stepped on the grass, and ran to the back with a rustling sound. A soldier handed him a water bag, and he took a sip. "Let's go, the Liao dogs have set up camp for some reason, let's go back and report the situation first."

The soldiers beside him hurriedly took out spoons and blew them. Soon, the cavalrymen who were on guard all around ran back. Wanyan Huonu jumped onto her warhorse, shouted "Gee--", and retreated quickly with this group of cavalrymen.

The clouds were dispersing, and white clouds in the sky were running wildly in the spring breeze. Horse hooves kicked up lumps of mud and flew into the air. The war horses running against the wind gradually slowed down.

A series of figures were resting in a white forest. They looked at the approaching war horses with vigilance for a moment, then relaxed, greeted the returning scouts with a smile, watched the men and horses go in, and then gathered together to talk in a low voice.

There were no chirping insects or birds in the entire Baiye Forest. The aura emitted by the four thousand soldiers was enough to scatter the birds and insects. Stepping through the grass with rotten leaves, Wanyan Huonu walked to the middle where her father was.

As expected, in addition to his father Wanyan Loushi, several generals in the army such as Wanyan Zonghan and Wulinda Taiyu were present.

"The living girl is back." Wanyan Zonghan, who had a rough face, was the first to greet him and looked at him with a smile: "It seems that there is new military intelligence."

Wanyan Loushi, who was looking down at the geomancy map, looked up at his son.

The young general stepped forward and saluted, then sat down on the ground: "There are indeed some changes. The Liao dogs are not leaving, and are setting up camp."

"Where?" Wanyan Loushi raised his eyebrows and leaned forward to hand over the geomancy map: "Point it out."

Wanyan Huonu quickly took it, looked at it first, then put the picture on the ground and drew a circle with her finger: "About here."

He raised his head and said, "Today we fought with their scouts three to five miles ahead of their army and killed quite a few of them. Afterwards, I led the team to observe for a long time on the west side of their front army and found that these bastards stopped to set up camp after only one or two hours. I don't know why."

"...Or lure us to attack?" Wulindatai said hesitantly, tilting his head and frowning in confusion: "With so many people, it's reasonable to spread them out and press forward. What's the point of stopping and starting?"

Wanyan Zonghan touched his head and said, "I also find it baffling. It can't be that the Liao dog's commander is having a seizure, hahahaha——"

He laughed a few times and then stopped: "I think we should try to beat them up."

"...Four thousand soldiers and horses." Wulindatai hesitated.

"What are you afraid of?" Wanyan Loushi slapped his thigh and said, "We had a bigger gap in numbers before, but we still won, didn't we?"

He propped himself up and slowly stood up: "Warfare is all about courage. The Liao army is no longer the warlike army it was a hundred years ago. Since the fourth year of Tianqing, they have been beaten into cowards by us and Your Majesty. Why should we be afraid!"

Several Jurchen generals around nodded slowly.

"Someone is coming."

Wanyan Loushi said calmly, and Tushan Hexi, who was not far away, ran over and knelt on one knee: "General."

"Send someone to deliver the latest military information to His Majesty, and also report our attack."

"Yes." The young guard bowed his head and responded, then stood up, called a few scouts who had just returned and left quickly.

Wanyan Zonghan waited for him to run away, then looked at the commander who gave the order and said, "Lou Shi, isn't it better to wait for His Majesty's order before attacking?"

The figure over there glanced at him and shook his head: "There's no need to be so careful. If His Majesty was interested, he wouldn't let us out alone."

Wanyan Zonghan hesitated for a moment and nodded: "That's true."

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. Since the Liao dogs won't come, we'll just go and kill them." Wanyan Loushi held the sword at his waist and turned around: "Order the whole army to mount their horses and send out the troops--"

The horns for pre-war preparations sounded, and the Jurchen soldiers wearing black armor and with buns on their heads jumped up, put on iron helmets, picked up their spears and iron spears, and swarmed onto their horses.

Before long, black figures trickled out of the Baiye forest, gathering into a black wave and moving towards the south. The sound of horse hooves swept across the earth with the wind, and the raised yellow soil gathered above the knights' heads, gradually forming a dust storm.

……

The cavalry led by Han Shizhong from Huihe City in the east were crossing the river from the shallow water under the daylight. The water level reached the horses' necks, causing them to move slowly. The team of more than a thousand people had to deal with the situation with caution. After all, most of the cavalry were landlubbers and their only knowledge of water was for drinking and washing.

Although continuous and non-stop raids are commonplace for these soldiers, continuous and high-intensity raids are still a bit of a burden. What's more, the leather armor on their bodies becomes heavier after being soaked in water, which inevitably makes people feel like wearing a heavy iron armor.

In the team, Guan Sheng, who had already crossed the river, wrung out his wet battle robe. Clear water squeezed out of the dark green cloth and dripped onto the ground. He shook his wet hands and looked into the distance. Several figures that were going away were turning into small black dots. "How long will it take to get to Zhongjing?"

"We still have to cross another river." Li Yi stood nearby, dried his feet, wrapped them in cloth, put on his combat boots, and put them on with a frown: "In fact, the distance is already very close, but there are many rivers near Zhongjing, so it will take some effort for us to cross."

Guan Sheng closed his eyes, sighed, and smoothed the water out of his beard: "I should have asked His Majesty to bring the navy earlier."

Li Yi didn't say anything. Han Shizhong looked at him and smiled: "Brother Guan, unless you run backwards back to the edge of Zhongjing Road by boat, you will have to walk in the water anyway."

He stretched himself lazily, reached out his hand to collect his soaked cloak, pinched his waist and sighed, "Most of my subordinates are land beasts. When I go back, I will throw them into the water and train them well."

"Brother Ruan must like this kind of environment the most." Pan Zhong smiled, turned around and looked at his 200 cavalrymen going ashore, and shook his head again, "But I don't want to go into the water again."

"Just bear with it." Han Shizhong laughed. "I'll ask Li Bao and Xiao Qi to help with the training when I get back. Do you generals want to join us?"

Guan Sheng and Pan Zhong looked at each other and nodded vigorously: "Then let's go together, so that we won't get confused next time when we encounter water."

The group of people and horses rested by the river for a stick of incense, then mounted their horses and galloped forward again.

……

at the same time.

The officials in Dading Prefecture packed up their valuables and documents and loaded them into the car. They stayed with Yaris and looked at the grain warehouse for a long time before sighing, "Let's go."

"Stay here, and don't burn all the food and grass?"

Yaris waved his hand and said, "Leave it to Xia Mo. Since he wants to fight, just give it to him."

He walked quickly to the side of the warhorse, stepped on the stirrup, and said loudly: "Zhongjing can no longer be defended, let's go!"

The carriages and horses moved slowly, heading out of the city. (End of this chapter)