The First Great Ancestor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 524
In the southwest of Changzi County, there are rolling mountains with overlapping peaks. The tops of the cliffs are shrouded in mist all year round, making them look like fairy mountains.

This is the famous Fajiu Mountain, where Jingwei filled the sea to pick up wood and stones.

Jiangzhuling is located deep in Fajiu Mountain.

There are many swamps and depressions here, and wild boars are often found in the mountains. I don’t know when the people of Changzi County called this place Jiangzhu Ridge.

In the Beginning of Summer, greenery surges through the mountains, creating a scene of lush vegetation.

In the valley northeast of Fajiu Mountain, a team under the banner of the Han Army slowly entered the valley along the stream.

This Han army numbered more than ten thousand, with broken flags, mostly wounded soldiers, tattered clothes and armor, stranded men and horses, and extremely low morale.

Liu Chong was riding a horse in the center of the army. His armor was stained with blood, and he was not wearing a hood. His gray hair was soaked with sweat and blood. After drying, it became hard and knotted. His old and tired face was stained with black and gray blood.

Compared with the ambitious Lord of the Northern Han Dynasty a few days ago, he was completely different.

Liu Chong's eyelids were half-closed, and his body swayed slightly as the horse walked.

After marching day and night for several days, he was so tired that he even fell asleep while sitting on the horse.

Even the horse under his crotch, a golden horse gifted by the Khitan people, has reached the limit of its physical strength. It has been unable to eat for several days and has lost a lot of weight due to exhaustion. White foam comes out of the horse's lips when chewing.

Suddenly, Liu Chong woke up in a jerk, looked around with bloodshot eyes, and said in a hoarse voice, "Where is this place?"

Behind him, General Zhang Yuanhui, who was following closely, stepped forward on horseback and whispered: "Your Majesty, this place is called Jiangzhuling!"

Liu Chong looked up at both sides of the valley and saw only layers of cliffs and hundreds of green peaks. He couldn't help but exclaimed: "What a terrible mountain and bad water!"

Then he laughed at himself: "If I were Chai Rong, I would hide an ambush here! What a pity, even Chai Rong could not imagine that he could defeat our army in Bagongyuan!"

I never expected that we would lose so miserably."

Zhang Yuanhui said bitterly: "If the Khitans had not retreated without a fight, how could our Han army have ended up in this situation? The Khitan Hulu are indeed untrustworthy!"

Liu Chong said coldly: "What the Khitans want is for both us and Chai Rong to lose. Under such a situation, our government can only rely more and more on them.

I had already expected this point, Yelu Dilu Nahugou, I didn't count on him in the first place!

I just didn't expect that Chai Rong'er personally led the Zhou army to help Zelu and came so quickly!
In the Battle of Bagongyuan, our Han army had the upper hand, but Chai Rong'er actually had the courage to go out in person, lead the charge, and resist the attack of our army until the Zhou army's rear troops came to rescue him! "

Liu Chong looked up to the sky and sighed: "There are many brave men in Zhou's army who fight to the death. Chai Rong's life should not be cut off. Could it be that my strength is really exhausted? Heaven is unfair! Heaven is unfair!~"

Zhang Yuanhui opened his mouth, wanting to say a few words of comfort, but he didn't know how to say it.

In his opinion, in the battle of Bagongyuan, the Han army was defeated suddenly and humiliatingly.

When the East Wing Army of the Zhou Army was defeated, Chai Rong's Middle Army broke out with unbelievable tenacity. The Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty personally charged into the battle, which inspired the Zhou Army's courage to fight to the death. In the end, the unknown reinforcements became The last straw that broke the Han army.

Zhang Yuanhui sighed. From this point of view, the Han army was indeed defeated. The Zhou army, which was not numerically superior, got rid of the East Xiang army whose general had fled early. The other two armies, regardless of organization, dispatch, The obedience and individual soldier tactical qualities are obviously better than those of the Han army.

Chai Rong, the Lord of the Zhou Dynasty, personally went to the battle, which aroused the morale of the Zhou army to the extreme.

On the other side of the Han army, Yelu Dilu retreated early, which greatly weakened the morale of the Han army. As the casualties increased, the will to fight quickly collapsed, and the retreat was almost impossible to stop.

Zhang Yuanhui smiled bitterly to himself. The Battle of Bagongyuan could be regarded as the most dangerous battle in his life, and also the most frustrating and useless one.

Liu Chong said angrily: "Do you know which way Yelu Dilu led his troops?"

Zhang Yuanhui said: "Before entering Fajiu Mountain, a scout came to report that Yelu Dilu was leading the Khitan cavalry to Diaohuang Ridge, which is thirty miles to the west."

Liu Chong ordered his guards to find the march map, looked at it for a moment, pointed at Taiyuan and sneered: "Yelu Dilu is not stupid. He is worried that the Zhou army will continue to march north and attack Taiyuan, so he wants to take a shortcut back to garrison."

Zhang Yuanhui nodded and said nothing.

The Khitans helped defend Taiyuan City, of course, not out of kindness, but because they were afraid that the Northern Han Dynasty would be destroyed by the Zhou army and the Khitans would lose a tool that could contain the Central Plains.

As the Han army entered the depths of Jiangzhu Ridge, the terrain became increasingly narrow and the sky gradually darkened. Liu Chongzheng was hesitant whether to order his soldiers to stay on the spot and rest for the night before leaving. Suddenly there was an explosion from above his head!
There was a loud bang, as if thunder exploded above his head. Liu Chong was so frightened that his liver and gallbladder split apart, and the yellow horse under his crotch neighed in panic.

The defeated Han army looked towards the cliffs on both sides in panic. They saw raindrops of rocks and wood falling from the cliffs, followed by another shower of arrows!
"There is an ambush! Protect Your Majesty!"

Zhang Yuanhui let out a mournful roar, brandished his double hammers and rushed forward to follow Liu Chong closely.

The Han army howled in fear, hid and fled in all directions, and fled desperately toward the northwest valley exit.

Screams resounded throughout the valley, and countless Han soldiers were beaten to death and shot to death!

"Hurry up!" Liu Chong screamed miserably, and under the desperate protection of his own soldiers, he ran for his life toward the northwest exit.

The frightened Han soldiers pushed each other and fled in droves. Hundreds of people were trampled to death.

Liu Chong was also trapped in it. If his own soldiers had not formed a wall to protect him, he would have been trampled to death by the rebels before he could escape from Jiangzhu Ridge.

Another explosion came from the mouth of the valley. A cavalry general charged first, brandishing a long-handled sword, followed by a dozen cavalry generals, and then a large number of infantry waving the flags of the Zhou army!

"Admiral Pan Mei is here! Liu Chong, the dog thief, dismount quickly and surrender!"

With a shout, the momentum was not weaker than the explosion just now!
Pan Mei pulls a horse and wields a sword, with a red face under the helmet and a fluttering beard. She really has the majesty of the living Guan Gong!
The dark Zhou army blocked the entrance of the valley. Liu Chong's eyes were splitting, and he almost fell off his horse in fright!

Fortunately, Zhang Yuanhui arrived in time and shouted: "Your Majesty leads his troops to leave first. Don't hesitate to fight. I will stop this guy!"

Zhang Yuanhui waved his hammers to meet Pan Mei, and his Han soldiers followed him to fight with the Zhou army.

The Han soldiers also knew that they could not break out of the valley and would eventually die. They howled crazily and started a hand-to-hand battle with the Zhou army.

At the mouth of the valley, the Zhou army did not completely block it, but left a gap to allow the Han soldiers to escape.

With escape exits, the Han soldiers will not be too determined to fight to the death, and it can also reduce the casualties of the Zhou army's soldiers.

After fighting for a while, Liu Chong rushed out of the valley mouth under the protection of his own soldiers and fled in panic with thousands of remaining soldiers.

Pan Mei cheered up and led the Zhou army to surround and kill Zhang Yuanhui, the Han soldiers who had broken off the later Han Dynasty.

The two generals fought inextricably on horseback, fighting for hundreds of rounds.Pan Mei was secretly shocked. This Yuan Hui was indeed the most powerful general of the Northern Han Dynasty. He could still unleash such combat power even after being on the run for many days. He should not be underestimated!
After all, Zhang Yuanhui was exhausted. After a hundred moves, he was panting like an ox. The mouth of the tiger holding the hammer in both hands was dripping with blood, and his arms were shaking slightly.

Pan Mei noticed that the limbs of the war horse under Zhang Yuanhui's crotch began to tremble, so she kept an eye on it, deceived Zhang Yuanhui with a feint, and stabbed the sharp point of the other end of the knife shaft into the horse's belly!
The horse neighed miserably and fell heavily to one side, making Zhang Yuanhui's body unstable and about to fall over together!
Pan Mei seized the opportunity and roared, the sword flew, a white light flashed, a head flew into the air, and hot blood sprayed from the broken neck!

With a bang, the head fell to the ground, and the bulging eyes opened wide.

Pan Mei picked up the head with her long sword and shouted: "The thief general Zhang Yuanhui is dead. The remaining Han soldiers who surrender will not be killed!"

Soon, the valley was filled with cheers from the Zhou army, and hundreds of Han soldiers wailed and knelt down to surrender.

Pan Mei ordered people to clean the battlefield, gather the surrendered soldiers, wrap the head with a Han army flag, hang it under the saddle, hold the flower knife high and laugh: "Let's go back to Luzhou City to ask for your reward!"

~~~
At almost the same moment, more than [-] Khitan cavalry troops were hurrying on their way in Diaohuang Ridge, more than [-] miles to the west.

Diaohuangling is a relatively flat valley with a river to the south and densely forested slopes to the north. The valley is long and narrow from east to west.

The sound of more than ten thousand cavalry running away was like thunder, resounding throughout the countryside.

Yelu Dilu, who was at the forefront, glanced at the mountains to the north with a look of doubt on his face.

This kind of movement should startle the birds in the forest and fly away. Why is it so quiet and silent?
Could it be that this is a forest where no birds live?
Yelu Dilu looked at the sky and saw that there was still more than an hour until dark. If we march at this speed, we should be able to pass through Diaohuang Ridge and enter Jinzhou before dark.

A dozen Khitan soldiers who had gone forward to explore the road rushed back on horseback, shouting and screaming, which meant that the road ahead was blocked!
Yelu Dilu was startled and roared: "Send the order, the whole army stops!"

The messengers rushed to report the news one after another. After a while, the more than ten thousand Khitan soldiers slowly stopped.

Yelu dilu ordered some Han soldiers to be on alert, while the rest of the Khitan soldiers rested on the spot. He led a few cavalry around the narrow winding road ahead. Sure enough, not far away, he saw that the road in the valley was blocked by tree trunks and stones, and was covered with dry grass and dead branches. He poured some water on it. The dark and sticky stuff had a faint sheen to it.

Yelu Dilu's expression changed in shock. This was obviously someone deliberately blocking the road!
He thought of the quiet and eerie mountain forest, reacted suddenly, turned his horse and roared: "The whole army retreats! Hurry!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the wind howled on the ground, and an arrow with a faint glow of fire shot from the northern cliff, accurately landing on the pile of dry grass, wood and rocks blocking the road.

Soon, thick smoke came out of the haystack, and gradually the fire began to burn. It burned more and more fiercely, and billowing black smoke rose into the sky!

Cries of killing came from the river valley, and on the northern hillside, the flags of the Zhou army were waving, and the cries of killing were like waves, surging incessantly.

Densely packed arrows shot out from the mountain forest, many of which were ignited with fire. They landed in the decaying vegetation in the valley and burned and smoked. Although the fire was not large, the smoke was thick and pungent.

Yelu Dilu shouted for command at the top of his lungs and ordered the Khitan cavalry rear army to change into the front army and withdraw from Diaohuang Ridge.

It is unknown how many soldiers were in ambush, but the hillsides were covered with Zhou army flags, and the shouts of killing were loud, but only dense arrows were shot out, and not a single human figure appeared.

If you want to counterattack, you must dismount and attack up the hillside. The enemy is in the dark and the Khitan troops are in the light, and they are at a disadvantage in attacking from above. No matter how you calculate it, it will be disadvantageous for your side.

Yelu Dilu personally suppressed the formation and urged the Khitan cavalry to withdraw from the valley.

Thick smoke filled the valley, and the Khitan soldiers retreated in panic. Countless people fell from their horses and were trampled to death, and countless people fell into the river when they were crowded.

A loud explosion came down the hillside. A young general in white armor, carrying a crossbow on his back and a wild goose feather sword hanging on his waist, led the Zhou army's infantry to rush down the hillside.

Everyone in the Zhou army covered their faces with wet cloths to prevent them from choking on the poisonous smoke.

They have been in ambush here for two days, and they are full of energy. Once they come out, their morale is like a rainbow!

Yelu dilu roared and led the Khitan soldiers to abandon their horses and fight on foot. If they could not stop the ambush, all of their troops would be trapped in Diaohuang Ridge.

On the one hand, Cao Bin commanded the Zhou soldiers to form an formation and press on step by step, on the other hand, he stood on a high place, drew his bow and shot and killed the Khitan people.

Seeing that Yelu Dilu was extremely brave and surrounded by more than a dozen Zhou soldiers, he was able to fight back and break through, so he immediately drew his bow and arrows to shoot!
Yelu dilu narrowly dodged a few more arrows, gave Cao Bin a fierce look from a distance, climbed on a war horse, and tried his best to escape to the east valley mouth, not forgetting to grab the crossbow hanging on the saddle hook. , reflexive backfire!
Yelu Dilu's arrows were fierce, forcing Cao Bin to dodge again and again.

Seeing that the Khitan general was about to flee, Cao Bin quickly climbed up a huge rock, stood on it, drew his bow like a full moon, and followed Yelu Dilu with his arrow!

Yelu dilu also turned around and took an arrow, aiming at Cao Bin who was standing high up!
The two feather arrows shot out almost at the same time. Yelu Dilu felt a pain in his chest. When he lowered his head, he saw a cluster of bloody arrows passing through his chest!

With a pop, Yelu Dilu fell heavily from his horse, his body rolled and twitched a few times, and there was no movement!

Cao Bin tilted his head subconsciously, and the Khitan wolf-fang arrow grazed his cheek, leaving a burning mark. He wiped it with his hand, and his face was covered with blood!

Seeing the Khitan general fall off his horse, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

When the Khitan soldiers saw that their general had been shot dead by the Zhou army, they had no intention of fighting. Those who were able to ride on horses desperately fled eastward, while those who had no horses to ride could only abandon their weapons and kneel down to ask for surrender.

Cao Bin rushed to Yelu Dilu's body and turned the body over with his feet.

He had never seen Yelu Dilu, so he didn't know who he shot.

The deputy general came and groped around on the body and found a bronze token with Khitan characters engraved on one side and two Chinese characters on the other: Yang Yan
"Yang Yan!? He is Yang Yan!" The deputy general clutched the token tightly, excited, "Congratulations to General Cao for shooting the Khitan general for your great achievement!"

Cao Bin was stunned, took the token and looked through it, it turned out to be Yang Yan!

I remember Zhu Xiu introduced that Yang Yan was the Khitan general Yelu dilu who assisted Liu Chong in his march south this time!

For a moment, Cao Bin's head was buzzing and he was confused.

The Khitan general was shot dead by him in Diaohuang Ridge like this?

Cao Bin couldn't believe it when he recalled Zhu Xiu's inscrutable smile when he gave him instructions in the military camp outside Jincheng that day.

Could all of this have been part of Zhu Xiu's plan?
How could he give such a great achievement as shooting Yelu Dilu to his hands so easily?

Cao Bin took a deep breath, stared at Yelu Dilu's body silently for a while, pulled out his sword and cut off his head, raised it high and roared: "The Zhou army will win!"

"Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!"

"The Zhou army must win!"

In the valley, the cheers of Zhou Jun's soldiers resounded!

　I went out to play at the end of the holiday and was delayed for two days. I'm sorry.
　　Thanks for the tip from the guy who is too lazy to think of new names! !Thanks a lot!
　　Thank you Mr. Zhang for your monthly vote when he turns 20 this year!Hold fist
　　Yeludi Luhan's name is Yang Yan. I made a mistake before and didn't pay attention. Forgive me.
　　Once again, I wish you all a new year and a new outlook.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)