Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 503: Joining the Battle
Soon, the army crossed the Tuhai River and entered Toyota Township.

After crossing the river, Zhao Zhen was not in a hurry to fight. He asked his soldiers to guard the bridgehead and build a camp.

When a wealthy family in Fengtian Township heard that the Liangshan army had entered Fengtian Township, they hurriedly sent someone to call their three children over. The wealthy family said, "It's a disaster. The prefect asked us to go out to fight, but I didn't want to. I couldn't stand the instigation of you three, so we became enemies. Now this big beast is here to take revenge, what should we do?"

After hearing this, Su Liang said, "Don't worry, father. With my three martial arts, I will make sure that he will not return home today. Moreover, the governor promised that if Liangshan attacks, Kouzhou will have troops to support them. I will write another letter asking for help and send it to them. It will be safe."

Su Yi also said: "Why do we need the governor to come to rescue us? I will take two coaches with me and defeat this guy in one battle."

Su Dafu scolded, "He is not made of clay. Don't you see that even though this Qingzhou thief is so powerful, he can't get any advantage. If you two were not planning to get a position as a militia commander, how could I let you go and provoke this big beast?"

"Mrs. Jin, among the three children in the family, you are the most far-sighted and the most skilled in martial arts. Do you have any ideas?"

Su Jinniang said, "Father, I have only heard of how powerful Zhao Zhen is, but I have never seen him. Now that we have become enemies, it is not something that can be resolved in one sentence. We must finally see the truth on the battlefield. If we win, we can just say that we robbed the people and it was not us. If we lose, either everything is over or we cede land and pay compensation."

After hearing this, Mr. Su became even more uneasy and stamped his feet, saying, "I heard that he has hundreds of generals and tens of thousands of soldiers under his command. How could he have been so blinded by greed? Now that the two families have not yet fought, why not return the looted farms to him?"

Su Liang said: "Father, why do you want to boost others' morale and destroy your own prestige? Let me fight for a while, and if I lose, we can discuss it later."

As he said this, Su Liang was about to raise an army.

Su Jinniang said, "Brother, he is guarding the bridgehead and will not attack our village. Why should we go and ask for trouble? We should just urge the state to send troops to rescue him."

"The prefect has a grudge against him. If he hears that he has invaded his territory, he will definitely not let him go. We are here to help him. Why should we fight him?"

After hearing this, Mr. Su said quickly, "Yes, yes, Jin Niang is right. We should protect the few soldiers we have."

As he said this, he asked his eldest son Su Liang, who was a member of the militia, to write a letter asking for help.

Zhao Zhen had set up the camp in the morning. Since the enemy was Gao Rang of Kouzhou, Zhao Zhen naturally made some preparations.

There is nothing to be afraid of, except for one thing: Gao Rang has invited someone to protect him. This person's surname is Qiu, his name is Xuan, and he calls himself "Xuan Zhen Zi". He once studied Taoism in Mount Tai, and he has eight or nine mysteries in his mind. He is familiar with the Six Strategies and Three Strategies, and is proficient in military deployment.

He also selected soldiers and trained a Taoist army, known as the Black Tiger Army. All the bandits and thieves in Kouzhou were suppressed by Qiu Xuan. This Taoist army was composed of the most brave soldiers in the state. They were all strong and brave, good at fighting, and very good.

Therefore, Zhao Zhen also mobilized 400 [Flying God Soldiers], including [Blue Dragon God] Yan Guang, [White Tiger God] Tian Ba, [Suzaku God] Dong Kai, [Black Tortoise God] Yu Zhiwang, and went to Liangshan Tianqi Temple to invite [Zhongtian Yiqi Yellow Dragon Taoist] Wu Jiao to take charge. As they waited for Wu Jiao, the [Flying God Soldiers] moved slowly behind.

In Kouzhou City, the prefect Gao Rang received Su Liang's letter asking for help and laughed, "He is indeed a man who will not suffer any loss. I have calculated everything."

After that, he invited Qiu Xuan to come over. Gao Rang said, "Master Qiu, now the governor of Liangshan, Zhao Zhen, has led his troops to invade our state, and we need you to lead the troops to repel the enemy."

Qiu Xuan asked, "Sir, this Zhao Zhen offended the Grand Commandant, but he was just driven away?"

Gao Rang said, "On the battlefield, swords and spears are blind, and life and death are irrelevant. Taoist priest, just focus on the fighting, and the general will naturally take care of the aftermath. If you can get rid of Zhao Zhen, my brother will definitely be able to find the spiritual materials you need for your practice."

After hearing this, Qiu Xuan nodded and said, "Don't worry, sir. Since this guy dared to invade our territory, I will capture him and send him to General Yu to vent his anger." After that, Qiu Xuan asked for the general's order, went down to the hall, went out of the city, beat the drum to gather the generals, passed down the orders, organized the troops and horses, and led the generals and officers out of the city to Toyota Township.

Seeing that it was getting dark, it was inconvenient to fight. Qiu Xuan stationed his troops in the camp of Fengtian Township.

On the second day, Qiu Xuan mounted his horse, and with 360 Black Tiger soldiers in front and behind, he led 5,000 troops to Zhao Zhen's camp. The three brothers and sisters of Su Liang also gathered their troops and lined up on the side.

At Zhao Zhen's side, Wu Jiao and his apprentice had already arrived. They lined up their soldiers and formed a battle formation, sounded the gongs and beat the drums, ready to fight.

Qiu Xuan was the first to come forward and shouted, "Where did these bandits come from? How dare you invade my territory?"

Zhao Zhen rode out on his horse, escorted by a group of generals. He shouted, "Taoist, you robbed the people of Liangshan, and you still dare to make excuses."

Qiu Xuan scolded, "Empty words are not enough. You have invaded Kouzhou's territory, and this cannot end peacefully. Left and right, who will help me capture this intruder and make me the first meritorious service."

As soon as he finished speaking, a general named Duan Qi appeared from the government army, rode his horse and brandished his sword, and shouted, "Who dares to fight?"

Behind Zhao Zhen, the "Double Spear General" Dong Ping appeared, and without saying anything, he thrust his spear and stabbed. The two fought for 50 to 70 rounds, and Dong Ping raised his spear and knocked Duan Qi off his horse. Ou Peng and Ma Lin saw this and drove their horses forward. One of them grabbed Duan Qi and dismounted him, while the other lifted up Duan Qi's body, and the three of them returned to the battle array in a show of force.

In the Kouzhou army, a general was furious, holding up a large iron machete in his hand, and jumped on his horse to fight. Ou Peng heard the sound of horse hooves behind him, left the corpse in his hand, turned his horse back to join the fight, holding both swords and spears, and after only thirteen or fifteen rounds, he raised his sword and stabbed He Wen in the heart, and fell off his horse.

Qiu Xuan was surprised and said to Su Liang beside him: "Su Tuanlian, this is your family affair. If you don't contribute, when will you?"

After hearing this, Su Liang was about to refuse, but Su Yi, who was standing next to him, heard it, shouted loudly, raised his golden Fang Tian Huaji, and drove his horse forward.

"Toyota Gosho Yoshi is here, who is here to take the place of death?"

Qin Ming of the vanguard camp was already one step behind Dong Ping. After hearing this guy's call, he immediately rode out. "[Thunderbolt] Qin Ming is here."

After saying that, Qin Ming raised his stick and hit Su Yi on the head. Su Yi quickly raised his painted halberd to block.

Su Yi was no match for Qin Ming in strength. In less than twenty rounds, he could only block and fend off. He made a feint with his halberd and turned his horse to run away. Qin Ming was furious and rode after him, but he didn't expect Su Yi to have already put down his halberd, picked up his bow and arrow, turned around and shot an arrow at him.

Qin Ming heard the sound of the bowstring and was unable to dodge. He could only use the mace to protect his head and face. There was a clang and sparks flew everywhere.

Qin Ming was startled and had no intention of fighting anymore, so he spurred his horse and rode away. When Generals Huang Xin and Luan Tingfang saw this, they hurriedly rode out on both horses to bring Qin Ming back to the battle formation.

Su Yi turned his horse around and laughed.

Luan Tingfang became furious when he heard this, and rode forward to fight.

(End of this chapter)