Thief Emperor

Chapter 581: The Sword Rises and Falls

Looking through the telescope, there were at least seven or eight hundred Han people kneeling in the front outside the city.

Basically everyone was injured.

These people were taken to a place within an arrow's reach of Jizhou City and stopped. Behind each of them stood a Khitan man holding a knife.

The intention was obvious: to execute them.

Li Yun put down the telescope, his face calm.

What Li Zheng said was right. These Khitans were obviously seeking revenge because Li Yun had killed their people and built a Jingguan before.

Although I don’t know where they captured so many Han people from, this scene gives people an indescribable sense of oppression.

It even makes people feel a little breathless.

Looking into the distance through the telescope, Khitan cavalry were cruising not far away.

Xiao Heng looked at the thing in Li Yun's hand with some confusion. He pulled Zhou Chang aside and asked a few questions in a low voice. Then he widened his eyes with an incredible look on his face. He hesitated for a long time, but still stepped forward cautiously and bowed, saying, "Mr. Li."

He pointed at the telescope in Li Yun's hand and asked, "Brother Zhou...Zhou said that this thing can see far away. Can you show it to me?"

Li Yun handed the telescope in his hand back to Li Zheng, then took out his own telescope from his arms and handed it to Xiao Heng.

Telescopes can currently only be mass-produced on a small scale in the Jinling workshop. Polishing the lenses is time-consuming and laborious. Currently, they are only equipped to senior generals of the Jiangdong Army and some officers in the scout camp.

People like Li Zheng treasure telescopes very much and would never lend them to others.

Li Yun usually takes their feelings into consideration, so he handed his own to Xiao Heng.

Xiao Heng took it, looked out like Li Yun did, and was surprised.

Looking at the bound Han people outside the city, his expression darkened. After a while, he handed the telescope back to Li Yun, then silently exhaled and said, "These Khitans came from Youzhou for support. These Han people should have been brought from Youzhou by them. Their purpose is to kill them for the Duke of Fu to see."

"Master... please be patient for a while."

Xiao Heng said with a dark face: "I will send a letter to Youzhou right now and ask them to keep an eye on these Khitans!"

Li Yun did not answer, but continued to look outside the city. Outside the city, two white flags were slowly hung up.

It’s still eight words.

On the left is written “Turtle shrinks its head”.

On the right is written "Han Yang Shou Shou".

This time, the handwriting looks much better, and it can be seen that the content is also better than the last time. Obviously, the person who wrote this time has a deeper understanding of Chinese culture.

Soon, a dozen big men among the Khitans strode towards Jizhou City, and soon arrived at the foot of the city, shouting to the people on the city.

"Leave the city and fight before noon, and you can save them from death!"

They all shouted in Chinese, and after shouting twice, they turned around and left.

Li Yun stood on the city wall, squinting his eyes and looking in the direction of the Khitans.

Xiao Heng took a deep breath and was about to speak when Li Yun turned his head to look at Zhou Bi behind him and said slowly, "Bring that Xiao Gan up here and hang him on the city wall."

Zhou Bi responded without hesitation and turned away.

Li Yun looked at Li Zheng.

"What do you think?"

Li Zheng was on Li Yun's left. After hearing this, he thought for a moment and lowered his head and said, "Sir, they have cavalry to raid the formation. If we fight in the wild, we will suffer."

"However, as long as we are not too far out of the city, the cavalry will not be of much use. I think we can fight."

Li Zheng looked into the distance and said slowly: "They don't have much more people than us."

Li Yun thought for a moment and was about to speak when Zhou Chang came up to him, bowed and saluted, and said in a deep voice: "Sir, we, the Pinglu Army, are willing to lead the charge!"

Li Yun looked at him, somewhat surprised: "Why did the young general change his personality?"

Zhou Chang smiled and said, "During this trip north, my uncle has made a lot of noise. We, the Pinglu Army, can't just stay down all the time. We have to make some noise. Otherwise, wouldn't this trip be in vain?"

There is some hidden meaning in what he said.

It won't be long before the news of the great battle a few days ago spreads all over the world. With such a record when dealing with the Khitans, Li's reputation will instantly reach an extremely high height.

And this reputation will last for a long time in the future.

If the Pinglu Army remains silent and does not make any movement, then in the future, there will be no need to think about arguing with Li Yun. Once Li Yun becomes strong enough, the Pinglu Army can surrender directly.

Therefore, this time, Zhou Chang was not only fighting for the reputation of the Pinglu Army, but also for his own future.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chang looked up at Li Yun with burning eyes.

He must give it a try, for his future!
Li Yun hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly: "Okay, wait until the young general's troops leave the city to fight at 9 o'clock, and I will lead the troops to plunder the young general's formation."

"Say it beforehand."

Li Yun said in a deep voice: "We can only go five miles out of the city at most. Otherwise, if their cavalry runs, we will not be their opponents."

"Okay." Zhou Chang responded, and then said to Li Yun: "Uncle, if I can shoot well, can you give me a telescope?"

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "If the young general fights well, I will have someone send a troop to Qingzhou at the end of the year."

"it is good!"

Zhou Chang stretched out his hand and said loudly: "It's a deal!"

Li Yun also stretched out his hand and touched it with his. Zhou Chang turned around, strode away, and went to organize the soldiers of the Pinglu Army.

At this time, Zhou Bi also took Xiao Gan, whose face was pale, to the city wall. He tied Xiao Gan up and hung him on the city wall with a rope.

Xiao Gan already had internal injuries at this moment. After being tied up and hung up, he didn't even have the strength to move, like a dead dog.

Among the Khitans outside the city, some with good eyesight quickly saw this scene and immediately reported it to the Khitan Khan Yelu Yi who was in charge of the central army.

"Great Khan, the Han people in the city have hung General Xiao up on the city wall!"

The Khitan Khan walked out of the tent and came to the front. He also saw Xiao Gan hanging on the city wall. He shouted angrily, "Bring me my bow!"

Soon someone came and brought his heavy bow. The Khitan Khan shouted and pulled the bow to full draw. An arrow shot out like lightning and hit Xiao Gan on the city wall.

But, the distance is too far.

He stood within an arrow's reach of Jizhou City. The so-called "arrow's reach" was the longest distance a shot could be thrown from high to low.

The only way to reach this distance is to throw it from the city wall toward the city. And if you shoot from this position onto the city wall, even with great strength, it would be difficult to reach it.

At this time, perhaps only the crossbow could kill Xiao Gan.

The Khitan Khan shot three arrows in a row, but all of them were not close enough. The closest arrow was only ten or two feet away from Xiao Gan, which frightened Xiao Gan so much that he screamed in fear.

After a few arrows were fired into the air, a subordinate stepped forward and said in a deep voice: "Khan, they are going too far. Let's just kill these pigs and dogs and start attacking the city directly!"

Yelu Yi glared at him and said expressionlessly, "Our forces are similar. We only win in cavalry and field battles. How can we attack the city?"

"I didn't expect to win this time."

At this time, he had just unified the Khitan tribes and had just conquered the Bohai Kingdom. He had eaten so much that he became a big fat man and had not digested it at all.

It will take at least three to five years for the food he eats to become combat-ready. This time, he came here with the intention of testing the waters.

It was only because Li Yun built the Jingguan that he angered the Khitan Khan, which led to the confrontation under the city of Jizhou today.

"Wait."

The Khitan Khan said expressionlessly: "If these turtles still don't come out at noon, we will kill all these Han people, then charge Jizhou City, shoot Xiao Gan at close range, and then withdraw."

Xiao Gan is not a member of his tribe.

Rather, the people he promoted were due to nepotism and were relatives of the Khitan Khan.

He had originally thought of bringing him out this time to gain some military merit, but he didn't expect that Xiao Gan would be captured before the fight even started. This really made him lose face!

At this time, Yelu Yi only wanted to kill Xiao Gan directly to vent his hatred!

As his orders were issued, the Khitan soldiers outside the city all remained motionless and waited quietly for noon.

At the beginning of the Si hour, the gates of Jizhou City were opened.

Yelu Yi, who was outside the city, had a burning gaze and was very energetic. He shouted, "Retreat, retreat, retreat one mile, prepare to meet the enemy, prepare to meet the enemy!"

They were too close to Jizhou City. As long as they rushed forward, they would be within the reach of Jizhou's bows and arrows. If they wanted to rush forward, they could only retreat first.

And only by retreating can the cavalry have room to maneuver.

He was the Khitan Khan who unified all the Khitan tribes. His prestige was at its peak at this time. After he gave an order, thousands of Khitan soldiers began to retreat in an orderly manner.

Soon, someone came to report.

"Great Khan, we can't lead those tied-up Han people back!"

"Kill him, kill him immediately!"

Yelu Yi answered without hesitation, shouting: "After killing them, retreat immediately!"

His order was quickly carried out.

Hundreds of knives were raised high and dropped heavily.

Most of the captured Han people died by the sword. Only a small number of them saw the Han army rushing towards them and knew that they had a savior, so they rolled on the ground and avoided the sword at the critical moment.

Forced by the Han army that was about to charge out, these Khitans rarely had the chance to strike a second time. If they missed the target, they would just turn around and leave.

Soon, they retreated to a distance of more than a mile away. With an order, all the Khitans stopped and turned to face the Han army that was charging towards them.

At this time, Yelu Yi was riding a horse at the front of the army.

The Khitan Khan clenched his fists, drew the long slanted sword from his waist, pointed the sword forward, and shouted angrily: "Kill!"

"Kill all these damned Han people without leaving a single one alive!"

(End of this chapter)