Apprenticeship at Qingcheng Mountain, Senior Brother Yu Canghai

Chapter 262: Three Thousand Miles North

After leaving the dock outside Yangzhou City, Chu Yuan fled all the way north.

It was like a flash of lightning, passing through the mountains, rivers and streams.

When you encounter water, walk on it; when you encounter mountains, cross them.

The woman behind him, whose face was half covered, with unparalleled beauty and fatal charm emanating from her from time to time, followed him all the way.

Chu Yuan tried several times but failed to get rid of the other party.

His light Kung Fu, "Xiao Yao You", is the most advanced light Kung Fu.

After a short attack, his speed was even slightly faster than that of a master-level expert like Zhu Yuyan.

The weakness lies in the fact that the "Eternal Life Secret" true qi in Chu Yuan's body is not as profound as Zhu Yuyan's.

Although his feet were on the ground, as long as he was within the range of the mountains, his body could absorb the innate spiritual energy of the earth between heaven and earth, and enhance the recovery speed of the true qi of the longevity formula in his body.

But running at high speed consumes a huge amount of true energy.

So after Chu Yuan ran six or seven hundred miles in one breath, he needed to meditate and regulate his breathing, absorbing the innate spiritual energy between heaven and earth to restore the true energy in his body.

Zhu Yuyan does not have this worry. The internal energy in her body is as strong and endless as the ocean, and she does not need to regulate her breathing to recover.

Taking advantage of this time difference, Zhu Yuyan was almost catching up with Chu Yuan.

But every time when Zhu Yuyan was about to catch up with him, Chu Yuan would burst out with all his strength and shake Zhu Yuyan off.

Therefore, although Zhu Yuyan tried her best, she still couldn't catch up with Chu Yuan, but the two maintained a delicate balance.

The two men headed north and first passed through the Jianghuai area which was actually controlled by Du Fuwei.

After crossing the Yangtze River and the Huai River, they entered the sphere of influence of Wagangzhai.

Wagangzhai is the largest and most territorial force among the many anti-Sui rebel armies in the world today.

It extends from the Central Plains in the south to Qi County in the north.

That is to say, the area from Henan to Shandong in later generations was all within the sphere of influence of Wagangzhai.

Then there are Dou Jiande, Luo Yi...

Chu Yuan and Zhu Yuyan traveled through these areas and forces of the anti-Sui rebel army one after another.

After arriving at Youzhou, Chu Yuan changed direction and chose to move westward, entering the sphere of influence of the rebel king Liu Wuzhou.

In just three days, Chu Yuan and Zhu Yuyan traveled more than 3,000 miles and arrived outside the Great Wall.

If Chu Yuan did not change direction and continued to move forward, he would enter the grassland and enter the sphere of influence of DTZ.

Since Emperor Yang of Sui succeeded to the throne, due to Yang Guang's incompetence and excessive taxation, uprisings broke out frequently at the end of the Sui Dynasty. Internal strife and division seriously weakened the Sui Dynasty.

But at the same time, the Turks were extremely powerful because of their unity.

Not to mention that after the split, the slightly weaker Western Turks and the slightly stronger DTZ, whose sphere of influence stretched from Khitan and Shiwei in the east to Tuyuhun and Gaochang in the west, all surrendered to DTZ.

There are as many as one million people in DTZ.

It reached an unprecedented level of strength that was "unprecedented in ancient times."

Only the Xiongnu Empire during the Qin and Han dynasties can be compared to it.

In order to gain foreign aid, the separatist rulers in the north contacted the Turks and even submitted to them.

Not long ago, Wang Rengong, the prefect of Mayi County, was killed by Liu Wuzhou, the captain of Yingyang Prefecture. He opened the warehouses and released grain by robbing the grain from the Sui court, gained 10,000 soldiers, and proclaimed himself the prefect.

Later, in order to gain a foothold in the local area, Liu Wuzhou sent envoys to attach himself to the Turks, and joined forces with the Turkish army to defeat the Sui army sent by the Sui court to conquer him.

Soon after, Liu Wuzhou took advantage of the situation to attack Loufan County and seize the Fenyang Palace built by Emperor Yang of Sui.

In order to gain further support from the Turks, Liu Wuzhou presented the captured palace maids of the Sui Fenyang Palace to the Turks, and the Turkic Shibi Khan presented him with war horses.

In order to support Liu Wuzhou, the Turks conferred the title of "Dingyang Khan" on him and gave him the "wolf-head banner".

Not long ago, Liu Wuzhou proclaimed himself emperor and changed the era name to Tianxing.

It was not just Liu Wuzhou. Perhaps because they saw the many benefits Liu Wuzhou gained from surrendering to the Turks, the rebel leaders and rebel kings such as Xue Ju, Dou Jiande, Li Gui, Gao Kaidao, and Wang Shichong all had the idea of ​​surrendering to or becoming vassal states of the Turks.

The reason why Chu Yuan chose to go north when he was being hunted by Zhu Yuyan this time was that after hearing about this, he wanted to take this opportunity to kill Liu Wuzhou and give a warning to the rebel kings and leaders of the rebel army in the world.

Chu Yuan had no objection to opposing the Sui Dynasty, but he could not stand anyone colluding with the Turks.

"In front of us is Shanyang City, where the government office of Mayi Prefecture is located. But I heard that Liu Wuzhou is not there recently. He is leading his army to attack Yanmen Pass."

Unlike the area inside the Great Wall, there are no tall trees to be seen outside the Great Wall even in spring. On a ridge that looks like a dark dragon and is covered with only some low shrubs and weeds, it appears somewhat desolate. Chu Yuan stands on a high place, looking down at the city in front of him. It is not very large, but the city wall is very tall. The wall is more than two meters high, the parapet is six feet high, and the circumference of the city is three or four kilometers.

"Let's go to Yanmen Pass."

Chu Yuan calculated in his mind that the figure behind him was getting closer and closer to him, and would arrive here soon. He took a step forward and disappeared where he had originally stood.

Zhu Yuyan has chased him for thousands of miles, from the south to the north, but still cannot catch up with him. Chu Yuan has now figured out how to escape from Zhu Yuyan, so he is not very afraid of Zhu Yuyan. Chu Yuan just thinks that there is someone following him.

It was also because of this that Chu Yuan, while escaping, also found out some news and information about Liu Wuzhou.

There is only a hundred miles between Shanyang City and Yanmen Pass.

Outside Yanmen Pass, large tracts of land belonged to the jurisdiction of Mayi County. The reason why Liu Wuzhou attacked Yanmen Pass was to prepare for advancing into the Central Plains and marching south.

Not long after Chu Yuan left this place, just over a quarter of an hour later, a graceful and beautiful figure appeared where Chu Yuan had just stood.

The person who came was none other than the "Queen of Yin" Zhu Yuyan, who had chased Chu Yuan for thousands of miles, from south to north, even outside the Great Wall, but still gained nothing.

"Why is he here? This seems to be Liu Wuzhou's sphere of influence?"

Zhu Yuyan felt the lingering aura left by Chu Yuan here, and a hint of doubt and confusion flashed in her eyes.

To be honest, this chase with Chu Yuan really opened her eyes.

Especially the opponent's lightness skill, which was so strong that it was beyond his imagination.

If the opponent's true energy was not strong enough and could not run away continuously, and if I had not marked Chu Yuan with my own unique Heavenly Demon True Energy during the previous fight and could sense the opponent's position from a distance, I would have lost him long ago.

Seeing Chu Yuan fleeing northward, she thought that Chu Yuan was going to flee to the grasslands outside the Great Wall, to the sphere of influence of the Turks, in order to get rid of her.

The Yinkui sect does not have a deep foundation in DTZ.

But the Demon Sect does.

Zhao Deyan, the successor of the Demon Sect's Demonic Phase Sect and known as the "Demon Marshal", was a Han Chinese who served as the national teacher in the DTZ country.

If this Taoist Qingyang really wanted to escape from my pursuit by entering the grassland, then the grassland would be the burial place of this Taoist Qingyang.

Unfortunately, the other party didn't.

These thoughts flashed through Zhu Yuyan's mind.

"Could it be that the other party came here for Liu Wuzhou?"

Zhu Yuyan had some vague guesses in her mind.

But how did this Liu Wuzhou offend Taoist Qingyang?

The biggest problem with Liu Wuzhou was that he defected to the Turks!
But now the Turks on the grassland are powerful and cannot be matched by any force. To be an enemy of Liu Wuzhou is to offend the Turks.

Even the Demon Sect did not dare to offend the Turks easily.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Yuyan couldn't figure it out, so she gave up and continued to chase in the direction where Chu Yuan's breath disappeared.

The pursuit over the past few days has made her realize that the chances of killing Chu Yuan are slim, but she is still unwilling to give up.

……

Yanmen Pass.

It is said to be the most important pass in the world.

It was during the Warring States Period that King Wuling of Zhao carried out military reforms, adopted the Hu clothing and horse riding and archery, defeated the invasions of Linhu and Loufan, established the three counties of Yunzhong, Yanmen and Daijun, and built the Great Wall, which gave rise to the prototype of the Yanmen Pass in later generations. Later, after Emperor Wu of Han issued an edict to renovate it, the world's most majestic pass was finally formed.

Later, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, due to the rise of the Turks in the north, there were frequent internal invasions. In order to guard against the Turks, the imperial court stationed troops in Yanmen Mountain. On the commanding heights, a pass was built with an iron gate connected to the Great Wall, and garrisoned soldiers were stationed to guard it.

From then on, Yanmen Pass became one of the main passes for the foreign tribes outside the Great Wall to invade the Central Plains dynasty.

At the same time, they were also the main route for the foreign tribes in the grasslands outside the Great Wall to "go south and return north" every time they went south to plunder the Central Plains dynasty. It was a place that military strategists must fight for.

At this time, Liu Wuzhou, who had just proclaimed himself emperor and was at the highlight of his life, was leading an army of 30,000 to attack Yanmen Pass.

Liu Wuzhou was a burly and stout man with long arms, like a powerful black bear. He wore a loose brass chain mail and a phoenix-wing helmet on his head. He rode on a high-quality black Hu warhorse given to him by the Turkic Shibi Khan himself. He had a sharp sword hanging from his waist and a cow-tendon bow in his hand.

Beside him were more than a hundred armored guards who were responsible for protecting his safety.

There were also four tall and strong men next to him, with greater strength than ordinary people. They were responsible for holding a flagpole next to him. It was as thick as a bowl and 16 feet long. It had a wolf head pattern as its logo, representing the "wolf-head banner" that the Turks awarded to him for the status of Khan.

Liu Wuzhou was riding on a warhorse, looking at the situation of the attack from afar. He saw that his army, with siege equipment, and some soldiers had already attacked Yanmen Pass and were fighting with the defenders there.

Liu Wuzhou immediately took out a feather arrow from the quiver on the side of the horse's back, bent the bow and drew the arrow, holding his breath and concentrating.

Without even aiming, he began to pull the string...

In his hand, the cow tendon bow became as curved as a full moon.

Liu Wuzhou loosened his fingers, and the arrow on the bow shot out like a flash of lightning, hitting the chest of a Sui soldier who was fighting a bloody battle with his men on the wall of Yanmen Pass. The Sui soldier fell from the wall with his weapon and was smashed to pieces.

"Mighty Khan!"

"Your Majesty's archery skills are unrivaled in the world."

"The emperor once said that he has the blood of the steppe Turks. Now it seems that what the emperor said is true."

"You should call His Majesty Khan. Didn't His Majesty say so? He likes everyone to call him Khan!"

As Liu Wuzhou shot a Sui soldier dead with his longbow, there was a burst of compliments from the surroundings. These were some of the generals who followed and depended on Liu Wuzhou.

In fact, although Liu Wuzhou was a Han Chinese, he came from a wealthy family in the frontier. He was brave and good at shooting when he was young, and liked to make friends with heroes. At the age of seventeen, he could pull a three-stone bow.

And being able to pull a three-stone bow was considered divine power.

From the smile on Liu Wuzhou's face, it can be seen that he is very happy with the flattery and adulation from his subordinates.

He was indeed very proud of his archery skills and the title "Dingyang Khan" given to him by the Turks.

Generally, when he showed off his archery skills, he would be happy if any of his subordinates praised him, and they would receive a reward from him afterwards.

In addition, he often said that he had Turkic blood and was proud of the rewards given to him by the Turks.

Even after he became emperor, he still liked his subordinates to call him "Khan".

Liu Wuzhou said happily: "This time you led the army to attack Yanmen Pass and made great contributions. As long as we capture Yanmen Pass, we will reward everyone according to their merits after we return."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"The Khan is truly our wise leader."

"We will surely return victorious from our siege of Yanmen Pass this time."

The generals under Liu Wuzhou looked very happy and supported Liu Wuzhou.

Since we are still under siege, it is indeed not appropriate to give rewards.

"By the way, how is the progress of the attack on Yanmen Pass?"

Liu Wuzhou asked.

They have been attacking Yanmen Pass for three consecutive months, but Yanmen Pass is indeed the most powerful pass in the world.

Even the garrison guarding Yanmen Pass only had 5,000 people.

Liu Wuzhou sent a force six times larger than that of the enemy and attacked Yanmen Pass for three months, but still failed to capture it.

If Liu Wuzhou had not ordered to disregard casualties, it might have taken an attack of a year or two before they could have conquered the city.

But after three months of attacking Yanmen Pass at all costs, Liu Wuzhou himself had suffered heavy casualties, with more than 13,000 men killed or wounded.

Now, of the 30,000 troops he sent to attack Yanmen Pass, only less than 20,000 are capable of fighting.

"Your Majesty, siege warfare is extremely difficult, especially attacking a strong pass like Yanmen Pass. However, we have suffered heavy casualties during this period, and the same is true for the defenders of Yanmen Pass. It will only take a few days to break through the pass."

A general wearing iron fish-scale armor, a horned helmet and a beard came out to report to Liu Wuzhou.

He was Yuchi Jingde, the deputy general who led the attack on Yanmen Pass, and also a confidant that Liu Wuzhou had spent great effort to recruit.

"That's good."

Liu Wuzhou said happily.

Although he is the commander-in-chief, he usually stays in the rear and will not easily go to the front line.

If he wasn't really worried about the progress of the attack on Yanmen Pass today, he wouldn't have come to the battlefield.

"Jingde, I will give you another seven days. You must capture Yanmen Pass. Can you do it?"

Liu Wuzhou thought for a while and said to Yuchi Jingde.

Once Yanmen Pass is captured, it will be equivalent to obtaining the qualification to go south to the Central Plains and conquer the world. At worst, they can retreat to the outside of the Great Wall. If they delay, something unexpected will happen. Whether or not Yanmen Pass can be captured is related to the great cause and must not be taken lightly.

"Your Majesty, I obey your orders."

Yuchi Jingde bowed.

Compared to calling Liu Wuzhou "Khan", he prefers to call Liu Wuzhou "Your Majesty".

……

Inside Yanmen Pass.

In a simple mansion.

"Ugh!"

A middle-aged official wearing a scarlet official uniform, with a long beard under his chin, elegant temperament, thin and vigorous, was sitting behind a desk. He looked at the pile of news from all over the world on the desk and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

He was Chen Xiaoyi, the prefect of Yanmen County. He had previously joined forces with the Huben General Wang Zhibian to attack Liu Wuzhou and besieged him in Sanggan Town. Later, Liu Wuzhou defected to the Turks and joined forces with the Turkish army to defeat the Sui army. Wang Zhibian was defeated and killed, and he was the only one who escaped back to Yanmen Pass alive.

Reorganize the troops, guard Yanmen Pass, and prevent Liu Wuzhou from seizing the pass.

Unfortunately, Yanmen Pass has now reached the point where food and aid are exhausted.

After three months of fighting to defend the pass, the soldiers at Yanmen Pass suffered heavy casualties, and now there are less than a thousand people left.

Although the party defending the city or the pass is generally at an advantage and the party attacking the city is at a disadvantage, if the attacking party wants to achieve results, it needs to spend several times the number of troops and many siege equipment of the defending party to achieve something. However, due to the huge gap in the strength of the two sides, Yanmen Pass is now only one step away from being breached.

There wasn't a single piece of good news among the pile of messages on the table.

Either there was a rebel leader or a rebel somewhere who proclaimed himself emperor, or that place also started a rebellion.

Chen Xiaoyi didn't see any hope of defending Yanmen Pass at all.

"County Magistrate, please think of a solution quickly. Right now, we don't even have enough people to fill the city walls."

Just then, a short but strong man wearing armor and with a blood-stained long sword hanging on his waist, who had just fought on the city wall, walked in and urged Chen Xiaoyi.

This man's name was Zhang Lun, and he was a captain under Chen Xiaoyi.

"Zhang Lun, please go down first and let me think about it."

Chen Xiaoyi frowned.

Seeing this, Zhang Lun had no choice but to retreat.

However, Chen Xiaoyi did not notice that a hint of murderous intent flashed in Zhang Lun's eyes when he retreated.

Now the food and aid in Yanmen Pass have been exhausted. There are not many weapons and soldiers left in the city to defend the city. If this continues, there will be no way out.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Sui Dynasty was over.

Chen Xiaoyi was willing to be buried with the Sui Dynasty, but he was not.

If Chen Xiaoyi continued to insist on defending the city, don't blame him for taking his men to kill Chen Xiaoyi and taking Chen Xiaoyi's head as a gift to open the city gate and surrender to Liu Wuzhou.

“People’s hearts are in turmoil!”

After Zhang Lun left, Chen Xiaoyi looked at Zhang Lun's back and sighed.

In fact, he was not blindly loyal to the Sui Dynasty. Anyone who had read a few books could see that with the death of the incompetent emperor Yang Guang, the Sui Dynasty had come to an end.

But the key is that Yanmen Pass can fall into the hands of anyone, but it must not fall into the hands of Liu Wuzhou.

Because the other party was backed by the Turks, not only did he surrender to DTZ, but he was also named "Dingyang Khan" by the Turks.

Once Liu Wuzhou captured Yanmen Pass, it would not only mean that Liu Wuzhou had the possibility to move south and rule the Central Plains, but it would also be equivalent to allowing the Turks the possibility to move south and rule the Central Plains. As a result, the Chinese country would very likely fall into the hands of the foreign races on the grassland.

"I, Chen Xiaoyi, am not some ambitious hero, but I also feel that I cannot bear this infamy."

Chen Xiaoyi muttered to himself.

If the rebel king was of Han descent, the worst that could happen to him would be to open the city gate and surrender with his soldiers.

But Liu Wuzhou was a rebel king supported by the Turks, so he could not surrender!

We must never allow the tragedy of the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China to happen again.

"But I'm really at my wit's end. It only took a few days for Yanmen Pass to be breached."

Chen Xiaoyi said with despair and helplessness.

Nowadays, most areas in the Central Plains have been out of the control of the Sui Dynasty, and the Sui Dynasty has not provided support for a long time.

"Mr. County Magistrate, please go up to the city wall and take a look..."

Not long after, Zhang Lun, who had just left, came back happily, with a look of excitement and surprise on his face.

"what happened?"

Chen Xiaoyi seemed confused on the surface, but he was actually extremely alert.

Now, on the eve of the city's fall, the captains and non-commissioned officers headed by Zhang Lun might have already thought of mutiny because of the casualties in recent days, and might want to kill me and surrender to the enemy. I must be careful to deal with this and not fall into the trap.

If you die yourself, it's a small matter, but if you implicate millions of people in the Central Plains, that would be a sin for the whole world.

"Just now, a master appeared behind the rebel Liu Wuzhou's army and went straight to the rebel Liu Wuzhou. The master's martial arts skills were extremely high, and he moved freely in the army. Now Liu Wuzhou's army is already busy with its own affairs and has no time to continue attacking our Yanmen Pass. They all went to protect the rebel Liu Wuzhou."

Zhang Lun explained happily.

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Yanmen County Magistrate Chen Xiaoyi suddenly stood up from behind the desk with a look of joy on his face.

Unexpectedly, he and the defenders of Yanmen Pass were able to survive.

"Take me there immediately."

After Chen Xiaoyi came to his senses, he said to Zhang Lun.

Zhang Lun led the way, and Chen Xiaoyi soon arrived at the city wall.

On the city wall where the two sides were fighting, the rebel army under Liu Wuzhou had retreated from the wall without anyone noticing. Only some injured Sui soldiers were left standing on the wall, having their wounds bandaged by their companions!

There were also some uninjured Sui soldiers who stood behind the women's wall and watched the situation and excitement outside Yanmen Pass.

(End of this chapter)