The Bad Guys: Everyone, let’s revive the Tang Dynasty together!

Chapter 366: Why did Your Majesty rebel? (I)

The north wind that blew overnight has stopped.

In a corner of the vast yellow earth outside Fengxiang City, there were densely packed troops and horses scattered in a disorderly manner.

The ground was covered with ashes, scars of battle, and blood. Dying men and horses were wriggling and struggling in the blood-soaked earth. Ownerless mounts were wailing and hesitating in the ashes, walking alone into the distance.

The air was still filled with a strong smell of blood. As the view angle lowered, the shouts of fierce fighting rang in the ears like thunder. Looking around, there were hideous, terrified or numb faces turning, and without exception, the blades in the hands of these people were already covered in blood.

The Shu army in red armor rushed northward, and although the Qi army in black armor seemed to be in a slightly weaker state, they were in the midst of a fierce battle and had traveled thousands of miles from Weibei back to Fengxiang. At this moment, they were so bloodthirsty that they were unwilling to retreat. Therefore, even though the Qi army was inferior to the Shu army in terms of horses and troop numbers, the Shu army could not expand its victory in a short period of time.

More than 10,000 Shu troops and several thousand Qi troops were deployed in the north and south on the west side of Fengxiang. Next to them was the devastated city wall of Fengxiang, but there were gullies and ravines under the city and Shu camps on three sides. The Qi defenders on the top of Fengxiang City could only watch the raging war in the west.

A battle involving tens of thousands of people was not considered to be on a very large scale, and each army could even clearly see the flags of friendly and even enemy forces. However, when one really looked around, they were as dark and dense as a swarm of ants, or even more like huge waves that were stacked one after another.

Where the two armies met, the battle line had already twisted like an earthworm, countless soldiers and horses fled in confusion, and both sides had stopped shooting arrows and engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

At this time, personal bravery is infinitely reduced, and success or failure depends entirely on morale.

The Shu army trudged out of Shu to expand its territory, knocking on gates and seizing land along the way, and went straight to the city of Fengxiang. The achievement of destroying a country was right before their eyes, so their morale was naturally high, and they only wanted to take all the rewards for their merit in Fengxiang in one go.

Although the Qi army hastily returned from Weibei, and even their morale was a little low after seeing Fengxiang being besieged, they still had a certain resilience, especially the Fengxiang army, whose families were all in Fengxiang. They were obviously more capable of fighting than the Tianxiong army that came to support and the Zhangyi army that returned with them. Not only were their equipment better, but their morale was also better.

At this time, the war had entered a white-hot stage. The sunlight in the sky was hidden behind dark clouds. The north wind, which had apparently stopped, suddenly blew in the face again, whistling sand and stones. The sand and stones hit the face and it hurt. The rising dust was blown by the wind, making it impossible to open the eyes.

"It's the south wind!"

There was a sudden cheer from the Shu army camp. Many Qi soldiers were blinded by the flying sand blown by the wind. After the cheer, a heavy roar broke out from the Shu army.

"God help me! The Qi army will be defeated!"

Countless Qi soldiers looked in the direction of the roar, and saw a group of cavalry suddenly rushing out of the Shu army camp in the south. There were not many of them, only about forty or fifty, but they were all wearing heavy armor. A Shu army general led the way and immediately drew his sword, with his personal soldiers surrounding him. Several Qi soldiers were killed wherever they passed.

The Qi army in front of the battle line had already been distracted by the evil wind, and now they saw this fierce Shu army general leading the heavily armored cavalry to advance deep into the Qi army's territory, and they all felt a little discouraged.

However, the fierce general of the Shu army, with his personal soldiers all in well-armored on both wings, suddenly made an incredible move. The dust raised by dozens of riders spread behind them. They rushed left and right in the Qi army as if they were in an empty space. They completely seized the opportunity of the north wind and tore a gap in the stalemate.

After the Shu general charged into the battle formation, his personal soldiers shouted, "Zhang Wu, the commander of the Shu flying boats, is here. Who in the Qi army dares to stop us?"

Qi and Shu had been at odds for many years, and most of the Qi army had heard of the name of Zhang Wu. This man was born with a dark purple complexion and was extremely brave. He was the favorite general of the Shu Emperor Jian and had been famous in Shu for many years. He was the most powerful general of the Shu army.

As expected, as soon as Zhang Wu's name was announced, many Qi soldiers were frightened, and a large group of Qi soldiers blocking Zhang Wu's dozens of cavalry quickly retreated to the north.

Shu general Zhang Wu narrowed his eyes under his helmet and immediately led dozens of cavalry to chase after them, clearly intending to take advantage of the momentum of the fleeing soldiers to expand the results of the battle.

He rode his horse at a gallop for several feet, and with the broadsword in his hand he chopped off two heads of the Qi army in almost an instant, then narrowed his eyes and caught up with a Qi soldier to take the third one, but his back suddenly tensed up, and as the crescent-shaped sword weighing dozens of pounds in his hand fell, a cold light suddenly flashed from under the sword, as fast as lightning, so fast that he even realized after seeing the cold light clearly that it was just a standard long sword no more than three feet long, and the sword spine was so slender that it seemed not even as thick as the blade.

However, it was this long sword that deftly lifted and pushed away Zhang Wu's powerful sword. Then, behind the long sword, a slender figure suddenly appeared, with his toes touching the tip of the sword. It didn't even look like he was exerting much effort, but the force of gravity instantly caused Zhang Wu's hands to sink, and the horse under him couldn't help but kneel down, causing him to almost fall forward from the horse's back.

In a desperate situation, Zhang Wu let out a low shout, and his hands burst out with tremendous strength. He actually raised the crescent-shaped sword in his hand again, and relied on brute force to throw away the figure on the tip of the sword that was obviously trying to use the force to leap over and kill him.

After being thrown out by this brute force, the slender figure just flipped over in the air, and then retreated a few steps on the ground due to inertia. Then he stood up easily, holding a sword in his hand, and just stared at Zhang Wu from a distance.

A group of Zhang Wu's personal soldiers who were a little behind hurriedly shouted: "General!"

Zhang Wu did not respond. He just shook the sword in his hand, then pulled the reins and pulled the front hoof of the horse under his crotch. He ignored the Qi army soldier who had escaped death and ran away, and just squinted at the slender figure holding the sword.

It turned out to be a girl.

The man was not even wearing the armor of the Qi army. He was wearing a blue shirt, had a high ponytail, and held a long sword. He had an extraordinary temperament and was completely out of place on this bloody battlefield.

"Kill her." Zhang Wu had no time to admire the beauty. He pointed his sword and gave orders to the personal soldiers who hurriedly gathered around him.

But he suddenly stopped raising his knife and pointed it forward, and he suddenly bent down, and in the next moment, a feather arrow arrived almost in the blink of an eye, and with great force, it pierced right into the center of Zhang Wu's forehead!
"There is a hidden arrow!" The personal soldiers on both sides shouted immediately, and then they saw figures flashing, and immediately surrounded Zhang Wu from all sides.

From the north, the sound of horse hooves rumbled and in the dust, a rider threw away his longbow and shot with a spear as fast as lightning, rushing over.

With just one glance, the sharp and flying aura of the rider rushed towards her, and there were hundreds of riders following closely behind. The knight took the lead, and the spear in her hand trembled at a high speed. The spear head was probing left and right like a spirit snake. In a blink of an eye, she had stabbed down four or five of Zhang Wu's personal soldiers who came to meet them, and rushed straight towards Zhang Wu.

In Zhang Wu's peripheral vision, the figure of the woman in blue shirt holding the sword also disappeared instantly, and it was obvious that she was coming to take his head.

Zhang Wu calmed down instantly. His team had taken advantage of the south wind to expand the victory, and they were already isolated and deep in the enemy's territory. The defeat of the Qi army was obvious, and there was no need for him to continue leading the charge, so he immediately ordered a retreat.

Even if he was really the most powerful general of the Shu army, he would be of no use on the battlefield at this moment. The most important thing was to save his life.

He spurred his horse and retreated, while his personal soldiers on both sides held round shields used in horse fighting to block the knights who were leading hundreds of cavalry to come to his rescue.

Zhang Wu's personal soldiers were all brave men who had followed him into battle for many years and survived. They were all wearing heavy armor and were not afraid of ordinary swords and arrows. When they met the knight, they would use their shields to hit the knight's majestic spears before they passed each other. They wanted to use their shields to block the weapons and then engage in close combat.

But when it was close to the tip of the spear, before it could collide with it and push it away, the spear was simply pulled back slightly like lightning, and then the spear was swung, and with a bang, it hit the shields that were rushing over.

Several bodyguards who were trying their best to stop the knight felt as if they were hit by a mountain. Their whole bodies were shaking violently, as if their whole bodies were torn apart by the spear. They flew off their horses immediately, but they rolled on the ground and died.

It all happened so fast that Zhang Wu even looked back, but then he felt a chill down his spine.

The knight knocked away several of his personal soldiers with the help of his spear, then he shot straight in, easily stabbing down several personal soldiers who were guarding the rear, and then he moved forward.

Are the heavy armor on these damn soldiers made of paper?

Zhang Wu was shocked. Some of his personal soldiers who were supposed to defend him with their lives hesitated for a few seconds. Zhang Wu also knew that he might have encountered a powerful enemy that he had never seen in his life. He saw the Shu army in the south right in front of him. He suddenly pulled the reins, turned around and pointed his sword at the knight, shouting: "Your Excellency, your spearmanship is so good. I am Zhang Wu, a Shu general. May I ask who you are? Now that the Qi army is about to be defeated, why don't you abandon the dark and join the light and serve my lord?"

The knight paid no attention and rode straight forward. The hundreds of knights behind him were still more than ten feet away.

Zhang Wu was furious. This guy was really courting death. He dared to cause trouble to dozens of his riders alone!

However, just as he was about to spur his horse to engage the knight, the soldier beside him suddenly pointed forward and said, "General, look!"

Zhang Wu looked up and his pupils suddenly narrowed. It turned out that among the hundreds of knights behind the knight opposite, a large flag with the word "Qi" was suddenly raised.

"not good!"

Zhang Wu reacted immediately, shouted, reined in his horse and fled.

"Fuck, this is Li Maozhen!!"

The soldiers on his left and right had their heads buzzing, but there was no way they could escape with Zhang Wu. At this moment, they gritted their teeth and went forward to meet him, as if they were ready to serve Zhang Wu and cover his rear.

Zhang Wu was sweating profusely. He knew without even looking that his personal soldiers, whom he had fed with real gold and silver, would definitely be killed. But at this moment, he didn't care about feeling sad. Escaping was the most important thing, so he didn't dare to look back.

But even thinking so, he still couldn't help but look back, and then he turned back with a look of pain and lingering fear.

"puff."

His throat felt cold and his face froze.

A sword flew from in front of him and pierced into Zhang Wu's throat, knocking him off his horse and then nailing him to the ground due to inertia. Blood gushed out and blended into the thick smell of blood in the air.

The woman in blue was unarmed, and her blue shirt was stained with blood. The Shu soldiers who had just surrounded and attacked her stared at her as she walked over as if no one was around and cut off Zhang Wu's head with a sword.

Her face was cold and she was facing the countless people, the defeated Qi army, and the Shu army that was constantly pouring in from the south, as if she was shouting out with all her life's strength.

"The one who killed Zhang Wu, Ji Ruxue from Huanyinfang!"

No one cheered for her because the Qi army in front of her was fleeing, but even so, this scream with inner strength still spread far and wide, making half of the battlefield silent. The empress looked up and saw a crowd of people, countless swords and knives were flying and flashing in the crowd, the whole wilderness was like a pot of boiling water, and people were struggling desperately in the boiling water like fish and shrimps.

The dust in the sky seemed to be covered with a layer of blood mist, and the sky was hazy, as if the sun refused to come out because it could not tell whether it was the human world or hell below.

But Ji Ruxue stood alone facing countless Shu soldiers with their heads raised high, which made the boiling water suddenly stop. Countless people looked at her in a daze, as if they could not believe that the person who killed Zhang Wu was a woman.

"it is good!"

The empress was overjoyed, she reined in her horse and pointed her spear forward: "Ji Ruxue, if you kill Zhang Wu for me, I will reward you with ten thousand gold coins!"

At the same time, a general shouted from behind her: "King Qi is personally on the battlefield, making the king face the enemy. Why would you use us? The reinforcements have arrived. Anyone who retreats will be killed!"

With just this one sound, countless Qi soldiers stretched their necks to look over here, and sure enough, they saw the large flag with the word Qi in it within their sight, and the empress herself was vaguely visible among the thousands of soldiers.

The slightly depressed morale of the Qi army was inexplicably rekindled. Zhang Wu was dead, and the King of Qi was nearby. He would see the performance of the soldiers with his own eyes!
The morale of the Qi army, which had been defeated and retreating to the north, was greatly boosted. Seeing that there was indeed a large group of reserve Qi cavalry coming to the rescue from the north, they shouted "Reinforcements are coming!" and turned around to fight again to the south.

When the Shu army surrounding Ji Ruxue saw the Qi army cavalry coming in groups to support them, they quickly turned around and ran, no longer caring about anything else, and they didn't even have a chance to snatch Zhang Wu's body. There was no other way, the Shu army was short of cavalry, otherwise Zhang Wu, a senior general, would not have led his men to charge into the battle.

Hundreds of Qi army cavalrymen rode up and, led by the empress, passed by Ji Ruxue.

Ji Ruxue did not continue to follow. She looked back at Fengxiang City worriedly, then lowered her head to look at the head at her feet, and remained silent.

------

In this battle, the Qi army turned defeat into victory.

But the fighting did not last too long, and the Qi army did not expand its victory. It can be said that it was only equivalent to repelling the Shu army in the field battle.

However, the good news was that the Shu army camp surrounding the west of Fengxiang was finally cleared out. After the empress had all the Shu army tents surrounding the west of Fengxiang burned down, she led her troops back to the military camp in the north of Fengxiang.

It was almost evening when Ji Ruxue saw the empress again.

The Qi army camp was three or four miles north of Fengxiang City. After the news of Xiao Yan's successful mutiny in Bian Jing half a month ago came, the empress quickly led the Fengxiang and Zhangyi armies to retreat from the territory of Jin State, while leaving the Baoda and Baosai armies in Weibei to guard against Jin State.

It was not until this time that the people below finally learned the news that Fengxiang was under siege. For a time, the empress was under tremendous pressure and was the target of public criticism.

Because no matter how you look at it, the Qi army's invasion of Jin was a wrong move, and if there had been no attack on Jin, the Shu army would never have had the opportunity to reach Fengxiang City. As a result, the generals and soldiers below naturally blamed the empress, the King of Qi.

Fortunately, the empress used the wealth of several states and towns to reward the entire army on her way back, and the morale of the army was barely restored. In addition, there were also Jingnan troops stationed in Fengxiang City, which made it difficult for the Shu army to break through for a while, and there was no riot among the entire army.

After returning, the Shu army surrounded the city on three sides. Although the Qi army had the opportunity to enter the city, the empress did not lead her troops into the city. Instead, she looked for an opportunity to dig deep trenches and set up a large camp, with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses outside the city to respond to Fengxiang from afar.

After setting up camp, there were several field battles with the Shu army, with both sides winning and losing. Today's battle was not even the most intense one. The most intense one was the several times when the Shu army wanted to attack the camp while the Qi army had not yet established a firm foundation. Without the cooperation of the Fengxiang defenders, the camp obviously would not have been able to hold.

"You took too much risk today."

After the empress came back from her inspection on the fortress wall, she couldn't help but frown and blamed him as soon as she entered the tent: "I will arrange people to deal with a brave general like Zhang Wu. If you go deep into the fortress alone without protection and something goes wrong, how can I explain to Xiao Yan?"

Ji Ruxue had her back to her, half of her shoulders were exposed. Qian Wu was checking the healing of a wound she had sustained a few days ago. When she heard this, she did not refute it, but just tilted her head slightly and asked, "What effect did burning down the Shu army's camp in the west have today?"

"It does give us a lot of advantages. Our army has the advantage of cavalry. The reason we were previously restricted by the Shu army was because the Shu army's camps were too stable."

The empress frowned slightly, but finally stopped blaming Ji Ruxue. Today it was indeed Ji Ruxue who curbed Zhang Wu's advance in time. Otherwise, once the Qi army was defeated, the situation would be difficult to reverse.

"But after today's battle, the Shu army has clearly figured out our strengths and weaknesses. I'm afraid the next time they attack even harder." The empress walked to the map, looked up at it for a while, and said, "Wang Zongkan, the commander of the Shu army, is no mediocre person. He has deployed troops in various ways in the past few days. Today, he even used the western camp to lure us. It's clear that he has a bigger intention. We are camping outside, so we can't let him continue to attack the city."

Qian Wu changed the bandage and gave a gentle reminder. Ji Ruxue then pulled up her clothes and looked at the empress's thoughtful back in silence.

Qian Wu was packing up the medicine tray on the side, also speechless. Today, Ji Ruxue went to intercept Zhang Wu, and she should have accompanied him to protect him. However, the war situation was critical at that time, and Ji Ruxue advised her to go to support elsewhere. Only after the war did she hear about Ji Ruxue's dangerous experience, and she was naturally scared.

Protecting Ji Ruxue was the task Xiao Yan assigned to her.

But there is no time to dwell on these things now. The empress is right. In today's battle, the Qi army was indeed lured into a field battle.

The Shu army was powerful. Although it did not have many cavalry, the Shu emperor Wang Jian had reinforced the army several times. Wang Zongkan had more than 50,000 soldiers and horses under his command, so he had the confidence to surround the huge Fengxiang city on three sides.

The empress could mobilize only the armies of Fengxiang, Zhangyi and Tianxiong, which had only more than 10,000 people. Even with the advantage of cavalry mobility, the Shu army had camps on the east, west and south sides. If any one of them was attacked, the camp in the south could provide support.

On the other hand, the Qi army had limited troops at its disposal. If they took the initiative to attack, they would have to guard their own camp. But if they stayed in the camp and passively took attack, the mobility of their cavalry would not be able to be brought into play, and they would be broken through by the Shu army sooner or later. Once the camp outside the city was broken, Fengxiang would be trapped.

Therefore, the empress had to seize the opportunity to go out of the camp and defeat the enemy even though she knew that the Shu camp in the west was a cover used by Wang Zongkan to lure her out of the camp for a field battle. After the Shu camp in the west of the city was destroyed, the initiative of the Shu army was greatly reduced.

Although Wang Zongkan did not defeat the Qi army today, it was not much different. The only surprise might be that Wang Zongkan did not expect that the empress had been hiding a cavalry until the last moment and only used it. However, this also completely exposed all the strengths and weaknesses of the empress.

Ji Ruxue had learned a lot from Xiao Yan, so she understood this principle, and her mood always seemed heavy.

"Well, Feng Xiang is still here, why are you so sad?" The empress turned around, glanced at Ji Ruxue, and said with a smile: "Don't forget, although we are regarded as food by the Shu army, there are also people who regard the Shu army as food, right? The mantis stalks the cicada, and there is also an oriole behind. What are you worried about?"

Ji Ruxue grabbed the hem of her clothes and just stared at the ground in silence.

The empress sighed inwardly. She couldn't see the situation clearly, let alone Ji Ruxue. She only knew that Xiao Yan had arrived in Luoyang, but there was Yang Shihou between Fengxiang and Luoyang.

And this seems to be the only thing they can do.

The empress looked up, with her hands behind her back, staring at the word Luoyang on the map for a long time without saying a word, and it was unclear whether she was in deep thought or absent-minded.

No matter what, she risked everything and waited for him.

------

Taking his eyes away from the word 'Fengxiang' on the map on the table, Xiao Yan raised his head and looked down the stairs with a deep gaze.

A group of people, looking exhausted, stood on either side of the hall. It seemed that the palace in Luoyang was too grand, and it looked extremely lonely with twelve people standing in it.

The tall and strong warrior in front was holding two sword boxes in his hands. He did not look at Xiao Yan, but his eyes were slightly lowered, as if he was staring at the long steps.

"Is this the sword you asked them to forge at Tianshan Mountain?"

The surrendered minister sat lightly on the side of the table, stirring the ends of her hair lazily like a favorite concubine of a king. However, when Xiao Yan did not respond, she just snorted and waved to the tall and strong man: "That Kui Si, right? Bring it here for me to see."

Kuisi just kept his eyes downcast and stared at the stairs without responding to her.

Jiang Chen puffed up his cheeks and glared at Xiao Yan fiercely: "Hey..."

Xiao Yan finally smiled, but stood up and walked down. He first opened the smaller sword case and took a look at it, nodded slightly, and then took the other wide and heavy sword case from Kui Si and opened it.

The ebony gilded scabbard is even carefully painted with a picture of the Big Dipper connecting the four seas and peace, interspersed with cloud and thunder patterns, which looks very luxurious and majestic.

"So beautiful? Can Ling Xiaozi have such ability?" Jiang Chen jumped down immediately and got close to Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan grasped the cool hilt of the sword and gently drew the sword out of its sheath.

The cold light is restrained, and there is an inscription engraved on the blade head, which is four characters in ancient seal script.

Stop fighting and turn into force.

When he saw these four words, Xiao Yan's eyes flickered slightly, and he stopped drawing the sword and chuckled instead.

"What a great Taiping sword."

(End of this chapter)