lady, please calm down

Chapter 464: Tempered by iron fire, the world’s strongest army

The new wind is biting and the setting sun is like blood.

On the vast plain outside Tokyo's east city, the defeated troops were scattered.

Even at this moment, the kidnapper horses from the Kingdom of Jin were still gradually gathering together while they were escaping.

After Chen Chu stood on the post and observed the situation with a telescope, he ordered Xiao Yi to go and deliver the order, "The Ninth Regiment of Baoxi, Zheyan Wenbu, and the Second Regiment of the Guards worked together to pursue the Kaizima, and they must not regroup. I The enemy troops dispersed in small groups and ignored them for the time being."

Although Jin Xia lost a large number of elite troops in this battle, considering the size of the 200,000 horse infantry, it was far from the level where the main force was wiped out.

If they are given a chance to breathe, complete another rally and rebuild their command system, they will indeed have the strength to fight again.

What Qi Jun has to do now is to beat up the lost dog and focus on pursuing the relatively large Jinxia Army so that the opponent cannot complete the organizational reconstruction.

In addition, Chen Chu divided his troops and headed ten miles northeast. The rear group of infantry led by Dalang was originally assigned the task of making a detour to the rear of the Jinxia Army's North Camp, but encountered an enemy on the way who also wanted to make a detour to capture the camp. The Jinxia infantry are currently fighting fiercely.

After the military order was issued, Zheyan Wenbu and Geng Baoxi's troops quickly attacked and killed Guaizima who was gathering the defeated troops.

But with Tie Dan's strength, Chen Chu could hardly control her, so he quickly whispered in Tie Dan's ear: "Be good, be good, be good Tie Dan, can I help you catch the thief and avenge Uncle Shen?"

"Um"

Chen Chu hurriedly knelt down next to Shen Zaixing and said, "Uncle Shen, please stop talking and take a good rest. Regardless of whether the brothers were killed or injured in battle today, I will make sure everyone's families are settled."

Before Chen Chu could send someone to ask what was going on, Xiao Yi, who had gone to deliver the order, had already turned back in a panic. Before the horse could stop, Xiao Yi jumped off the horse with a beautiful turn, took three steps and two steps at a time, and walked to Chen Chu's body. In front of him, he said in a low but eager tone: "Brother Chen, Uncle Shen wants to see you."

Xiao Yi said it euphemistically, but Chen Chu also understood. He whistled to summon Xiao Hong, got on his horse, and rushed towards the gathering place of the Second Guards Regiment.

Old Shen looked at Brother Chu, forced a smile, and felt a little happy in his heart. Brother Chu was good. With his words, Old Shen's behavior of giving away his daughter turned into a marriage proposal before his death.
It is much nicer for a man to take the initiative to propose marriage than for the girl's father to give it away for free, lest others say that no one wants my sweet girl, so I forced it on my first brother.
When Chen Chu took Tie Dan's hand from his, Old Shen let out a sigh of relief, as if he had completed the most important thing in his life.

It was not the first day that the Huaibei Army was formed. There had already been a set of high standards for the placement of soldiers' widows and wounded soldiers. Shen Zaixing was naturally not worried about this.

There were several mournful exclamations from the surrounding area.

Along with the movement of breathing, blood foam mixed with lumps of dark red flesh and blood flowed out from the corners of the mouth. It seemed that every breath was accompanied by great pain.

When Chen Chu saw this, he hugged Tie Dan to prevent her from further hurting herself.

Tiedan was finally so frightened that he cried.

It's night, Xu time.

Perhaps because he felt that he should not be soft-hearted, he finally agreed to take his father on the expedition, or perhaps because he felt that he had rushed too fast and caused his father to leave the large army with him. In short, Tie Dan believed that he had harmed his father.

This was the first time Chen Chu saw her crying, and the first time he saw such a scared look on her face. Maybe she was worried that she would cry her father away. It was obvious that her tears could not be stopped, but Tiedan bit her lower lip hard. , so as not to cry out loud.

"How's the injury?"

Combined with the scene in the distance, Chen Chu's heart sank and he hurriedly asked: "Uncle Shen is injured?"

In the inner circle of the crowd, Pang Shengyi and Tie Dan were kneeling on either side of Shen Zaixing. Old Shen's face was like gold paper, and his chin, beard, and chest were covered with thick black blood.

With Tokyo as the center, the rout has spread to a radius of hundreds of miles.

Sure enough, when Shen Zaixing heard the sound, his already somewhat gloomy eyes suddenly burst out with the last trace of energy. He opened his mouth to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth, there were only streams of black blood and the sound of hissing air.

"uncle!"

Seeing the arrival of the King of Chu, the soldiers on the periphery silently moved out of the way.

Tie Guan, who had always been like a marionette, realized at this moment that his father was no longer breathing. He couldn't help but burst out crying, and then slapped his face crazily.

He slowly shook his head and looked sideways at his frightened and helpless daughter.

It looked like the internal organs were injured.
On the side of Tie Dan, the baby's face was covered with blood spots splashed by the enemy. After the tears washed away, two clear ravines were formed.

Chen Chu immediately understood what Old Shen was thinking. He glanced sideways at Tie Dan, who had no master. Then he changed from squatting to kneeling and said loudly: "Uncle Shen, my nephew has been in love with your daughter for a long time. He has thought about her day and night and wants to marry Tie Dan." Home, please help me, uncle.”

Chen Chu was startled and said hurriedly: "Uncle Shen, don't worry, I will take care of Tie Dan."

The battlefield was littered with corpses. The men who had just experienced a fierce battle were covered in blood, and their resolute expressions were a little confused and confused at this time.

Then, Lao Shen stretched out his hand with difficulty, grasped Tiedan's hand that had been holding the corner of his clothes, and handed it to Chen Chu with difficulty.

The father and daughter looked at each other briefly, and a thousand words were said in this moment of silence.

Perhaps these words diverted Tie Dan's attention, and the strength of his struggle was indeed much smaller. But while he was crying loudly, Tie Dan said intermittently: "I just want my father to die. I have no relatives in this world." Already."

"Brother Chen, please go see Uncle Shen again."

But Old Shen was not satisfied with these words, and still stared at Chen Chu, with undisguised pleading in his eyes. An old man who had been strong all his life would only give up his face and dignity when it comes to his children.

Pang Shengyi on the other side saw Chen Chu arriving and said quickly: "Brother, King Chu is here!"

Lao Shen finally couldn't hold it back, and two lines of thick tears slowly slid from the corners of his eyes into his gray-haired temples. My dear, Daddy won't be able to protect you in the future.

After receiving the order, only a portion of the Second Guards Regiment participated in the pursuit, while hundreds of others gathered in silence.

After a while, Chen Chuchi came closer and jumped off his horse.

After a few breaths, Shen Zaixing looked at his daughter reluctantly, his eyes gradually lost their luster and turned gray.
"Big brother!"

The sound of breathing was like a leaking bellows.

Tie Dan neither likes to cry nor laugh.

Although Pang Shengyi didn't want to admit it, he knew that his elder brother was dying. The reason why he held on until now was just to see Brother Chu.

This scene looks very inconsistent.

Part of the Jin Xia army fled north, but when crossing the Yellow River north, they trampled on the thin ice. Many people fell into the water and drowned. The remaining troops were defeated and still had to fight against trapped animals.

But facing the Qi army, which has a relatively complete system and obviously superior strength, it will only be destroyed sooner or later.

The other group fled west towards Luoyang, and Zhe Yanwen, Zhang Shuye's group and Geng Baoxi's group were pursuing them on a starry night.

On Moutuogang, the commanding height of the plain east of the city, Chen Chu, Chen Jing'an, Jiang Huaixiong, and Peng Er stood side by side, looking at the flames of the camp in the north of the city.

Just now, Chen Jing'an already knew about the changes in Huaibei and that Yuan Zhang wanted to return south overnight, so he reminded him specifically: "Yuan Zhang, don't panic. Today's battle will defeat Jin Xia. When the news comes back to Huaibei, the rats from the Zhou Kingdom will come to take advantage of people's danger." 80% will retreat without a fight.”

What Chen Jingan said is indeed true. Since the peace talks between Qi and Zhou in the second year of Fuchang, the two countries have generally maintained peace for more than ten years. This time Zhou took advantage of Qi's crisis and wanted to pounce on him to get a share of the pie. This was nothing more than a fake act.

When they find out about Jin Xia's defeat, they will be frightened and retreat immediately.

Chen Chu thought about Chen Jingan's suggestion seriously, then shook his head and said, "No, I won't worry if I don't go back and take a look at home."

'Home' is a special word.

It makes people feel warm and at the same time unstoppably concerned.

Among the people present, whose family members are not in Huaibei?
Peng Er, Da Lang, who was not present, and even the eldest son who was on guard duty, and other Huaibei officers. Since they learned about Zhou's invasion of Huaibei at the end of last month, who is not worried about the safety of their families?

But everyone knows that the decisive battle in Tokyo is imminent. No matter how worried you are at this time, you cannot be distracted. You must solve one end to free up your hands to solve the other end.

At this moment, although there are still many beginnings and ends to be dealt with in this battle to defend Tokyo that has lasted for several months, the dust has finally settled, and it is natural to return home.

Only someone like Chen Jingan could persuade Chen Chu to stay for the time being with an almost cold-blooded reason.

Sure enough, after hearing what Chen Chu said, Chen Jing'an continued: "The placement of prisoners of war, rewards and punishments for merits and demerits after the war, how to hunt down the remaining enemies, and how to hold Xixia accountable all need to be decided by Yuan Zhang. There are so many threads, and no one except Yuan Zhang It can be done.”

"Prisoners of war." Chen Chu only used two breaths to look around at the corpses of the Qi army soldiers in the wilderness who had not yet restrained themselves, and said: "Brother Peng, if you capture Jinxia's high-ranking officers, keep them for New Year's rites. All the middle and lower generals will be beheaded, and the ordinary soldiers will be killed." They will be beheaded using the method of drawing one out of three, and the remaining ones will be sent to various mining carbon factories.”

In just a few words, the fate of more than 100,000 people was decided.

"Yes!" Peng Er accepted the order neatly.

Chen Jingan was not a rotten scholar. He knew that the Qi army had also paid a heavy price in this battle. If the soldiers were not allowed to kill a group of people, he would be afraid that the anger in his heart would not disappear, so he kept silent.

"As for rewards and punishments for merits and demerits."

The so-called "merits and demerits", after this battle, the entire army should have received rewards, except for Qin Fenglu Liu Shuping, the "punishment" is talking about him.

Chen Chu continued: "After Liu Shuping returns to the camp, you should not alarm the enemy for the time being. I will deal with it myself after I return from Huaibei."

"What if he escapes and never returns?" Jiang Huaixiong asked. Peng Er immediately answered: "Escape? Where can he escape? Escape back to Qinfeng Road? Or seek refuge with Xixia or Zhou?"

What the soldiers hated most was that Paoze abandoned his allies at the critical moment. Peng Er was still gritting his teeth when he talked about Liu Shuping.

However, Jiang Huaixiong thought about it carefully and realized that Brother Peng was indeed right!
In today's battle, Jin Xia's main force was almost exhausted, and Zhou Guo was the default leader in combat power in the hearts of soldiers from all over the world.

On the occasion of this great victory, neither Xixia nor Zhou dared to take Liu Shuping in. Even if he fled back to Qinfeng Road, trying to compete with a country with one place would definitely be a recipe for death.

After thinking about it, it seems that returning to camp voluntarily and asking for forgiveness is the only chance of survival.

Chen Chu then made arrangements on how to pursue the remnants of the enemy, and finally said to Chen Jing'an specifically: "Mr. Yanagawa, after returning to the city tomorrow, ask Du Zhaoqing of the Ministry of Rites and Zhang Xingyan of Honglu Temple to prepare envoys to send envoys to Xixia and Zhou. "

Peng Er and Jiang Huaixiong turned to look at Chen Chu at the same time. The purpose of the mission was peace talks. Now that we have won, what's the point of peace talks?
Chen Jing'an immediately understood Chen Chu's intention and simply asked: "Does Yuan Zhang have a rough idea? I might as well explain it to Du and Zhang in advance."

Chen Chu said without hesitation: "Xixia will have to compensate us at least 30,000 Hequ horses. Since Xixia is poor, let's take five million taels of silver as the bottom line. As for the Zhou State. The Zhou State is rich, and the compensation should not be less than Ten million taels."

Peng Er and Jiang Huaixiong both opened their mouths in an O-shape. Xixia had 30,000 Hequ horses, and Zhou had to pay tens of thousands of taels of silver?
How much is ten thousand taels? The two of them had no idea at all, but in short, there were many, many.

Even Chen Jingan looked surprised. Based on his understanding, even if Zhou was rich, the imperial court would not be able to afford tens of millions of taels of money!

As if to open up Chen Jingan's thinking, Chen Chu took the initiative to explain: "If we can't get it out at the moment, we can use the tax revenue from the Salt and Iron Supervision and Municipal Shipping Departments of the two countries as collateral. We just need to arrange for our people to be their deputy envoys to the third department." , That’s all the affairs of the Salt and Iron Bureau.”

Hey, this is indeed a method.

Chen Jing'an even immediately sensed Chen Chu's deep intention. After this battle, he rewarded all the hardworking soldiers. The reconstruction of Northwest and Tokyo required a lot of money, so it was more reasonable to ask for war reparations!

However, Chen Chu's lion's mouth was wide open, but it also meant that he was "tiring the enemy", leaving Xixia and Zhou with no money left to strengthen their military preparedness.

This is a conspiracy. If the two countries don't agree, then let's try another fight.
Anyway, after this battle in Tokyo, it will be difficult for Xixia to fight again in the next few years.

On the other hand, the Zhou State. Although the Huaibei Army had not officially fought with them at this time, no one doubted that after the Qi State freed up its hands, it could manipulate the Zhou State at will.

If the Huaibei Army's tyrannical combat power in the past relied on productivity that was ahead of the times, then after today's victory over the Jinxia Allied Forces, after being tempered by blood and fire, the Huaibei Army has officially acquired the background and temperament of the best army in the world. .

Moreover, the Battle of Tokyo was also a battle for Chen Chu to reintegrate the Qi army.

After this battle, the smell of the family's private soldiers in all the volunteers has been reduced a lot.

If Chen Chu wanted to, by selflessly providing food and grass to all armies for several months, granting rewards regardless of relatives, and adding in promotions after the war, he could turn some of the Western Army bosses into mere commanders.

Thinking of this, Chen Jing'an couldn't help but sigh, but said: "Hey, because of this, Yuan Zhang should not look back at the moment when Yuan Zhang supports the generals of Sheji and threatens a great victory. It can be said that hundreds of officials and people are looking forward to entering the capital at this time. But one word can make a difference!"

After saying such explicit words, Chen Jingan added, "This is also what Cai Gong meant."

Indeed, at this time, the 300,000 King Qin's army outside the city was under Chen Chu's orders, and the Xiang Army and the Forbidden Army inside the city were also controlled by the Huaibei generals.

On the occasion of this great victory, it was indeed a good opportunity for Chen Churuo to take Jia Rou instead.

This was the real reason why he had been persuading Chen Chu to stay in Tokyo.

Chen Chu looked at the stars of fire far and near on the battlefield, but said: "This matter is not urgent. Let's wait until Huaibei is calmed down."

Chen Jing'an was a little anxious and couldn't help but look at Peng Er and Jiang Huaixiong, but Peng Er was calm by nature and not an impatient person. Jiang Huaixiong was from the old Xiang army and was not suitable to take the lead, so as not to steal the limelight from Dalang and others.

Seeing that the two of them were silent, Chen Jing'an couldn't help but miss Yang Dalang, Zhou Liang, Wu Kui and others. If these people were here, he only needed to tease him a little, and a few of them might wrap up Brother Chu with a yellow cloth and then put them away. It was carried to the Daqing Hall of the Imperial City.

Everyone fell silent for a moment. When Peng Er saw that the military and political affairs had been settled, he took out a jasper butterfly hairpin with gold threads from his arms and held it in front of Chen Chu with both hands.

Chen Chu couldn't help but was stunned, picked up the hairpin and looked at it carefully, and then remembered the origin of this hairpin. As early as ten years ago in Fuchang, Lao Bai had pursued Bai Lu, but the progress was not going well.

Later, Chen Chu mentioned this matter to Mao'er, and Mao'er only said: It's true that Bai Lu is mine, but love between a man and a woman cannot be forced.
However, in order to bring the two of them together, Mao'er picked a fine noodle and asked Chen Chu to give it to Lao Bai, hoping that the latter would use it to please Bai Lu.

Later, Bai Lu did not accept the hairpin. When Lao Bai returned it to Chen Chu, Chen Chu asked him to keep it for himself. At that time, he also said, "If I don't accept it now, I might accept it in the future."

Seeing that Brother Peng had sent the hairpin back, Chen Chu's heart sank and he couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with him?"

Brother Peng glanced at Chen Chu, swallowed back the 'King of Chu' that was on his lips, and said in a brotherly tone: "Brother Chu, it was Yutang who rushed into the Iron Buddha Formation this evening. brother"

"."

Chen Chu's body tensed up, and an indescribable feeling suddenly surged in his heart.

At midnight.

At the temporary camp of the Huaibei Army in the east of the city, Little Yi, with reddish eyes, entered the tent with a bowl of meat soup, only to see Brother Chen sitting quietly on a pony, his figure straight and straight, but his eyes were unfocused.

Everyone already knew about Lao Bai. Xiao Yi didn't know what Brother Chen was thinking at this time, but he guessed that Brother Chen was sitting here right now because he didn't want anyone to see any exposed emotions.

He is the commander-in-chief of the first army, and he must look firm and calm at all times.

Even if the brothers around you die, you should be like a stone without emotion. You should not be sad, otherwise you will look weak.

"Brother Chen, let's have something to eat."

Xiao Yi stepped forward and handed over the hot porridge.

Chen Chu instinctively took it, held it for a while and put it on the table next to him, then said, "What time is it?"

"Two o'clock in the hour."

"How are you preparing, brothers?"

"The corpses of the brothers who died in the battle have been buried and will be taken back with the rear army when they return to Huaibei. The rest of us have already had their meals and fed their horses, and can set off back south at any time."

"Yes." Chen Chu stood up and walked out of the tent, but when he reached the door, he finally asked without giving up, "Is it true that there is nothing missing, Lao Bai? Even clothes and even a little bit of flesh and blood."

As soon as he said this, tears welled up in Xiao Yi's eyes, but he still shook his head and said: "I didn't find anything."

Seeing him like this, Chen Chu turned back and patted Xiao B on the shoulder, as if to comfort Xiao B, but also to educate himself, "How can there be no death in a war?"

But Xiao Yi, who had been beside Chen Chu for a long time, could clearly hear that there was still a subtle tremor in Brother Chen's pretended to be calm.

After a while, Chen Chu walked out of the tent.

Turning around to look at the towering city of Tokyo with its endless lights.

On the dark land, the Huanghuang Imperial Capital became more and more dazzling.

The peripheral battles are getting further and further away from here, and the sound of fighting can no longer be heard.

We finally defended this city!

Chen Chuchang let out a breath, turned around and walked towards Tie Dan's tent next door.

Inside the tent, Tie Dan was like a puppet that had lost its soul, sitting blankly by the couch, with deep and shallow traces of tears and specks of blood on the doll's face.

"Iron courage."

Chen Chu called out, but Tie Dan had no response. Chen Chu went to the corner and took a clean cloth and wet it with water. He turned around and walked back to Tie Dan, squatted down, and wiped Tie Dan's dirty face in the gentlest way. Face.

Perhaps it was the touch of the cold towel that made Tie Dan wake up a little, and looked at Chen Chu blankly with his big eyes.

Chen Chu forced out a smile and said, "Good boy, let's go. I'll take you back to Huaibei and go home."

"Where is my father?" Tie Dan asked slightly dullly.

"Go home too, and we'll take Uncle Shen home together."

"Keke's father is gone, how can I still have a home?" Tie Dan murmured.

"How come you don't have a home? Have you forgotten that your yard has always been in the house on Sajin Lane. With me, Mao'er and Sister Qi Cai, you have a home."

Tiedan's character was as simple as a blank sheet of paper, so Chen Chu used the most direct and simple words to persuade him.

But after hearing this, Tiedan's tears, which he had managed to hold back, began to flow down again.

Chen Chu no longer tried to persuade him, but only shook Tie Dan's hand and walked out of the camp slowly. Tie Dan had been dependent on his father since he was a child. His father died in the war. Needless to say, he was sad, but at the same time, he felt the fear of losing his support and being at a loss. , which gave her a sense of despair that the rest of her life would be meaningless.

Fortunately, a warm hand guided her out.

Tie Dan is stubborn, and since he is being led forward, he should go ahead, no matter whether there is an abyss ahead or a mountain of knives and a sea of ​​fire.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the battle to defend Tokyo was still going on, and the 1st and 2nd Guards Regiments left camp at night and returned south.

(End of this chapter)