Late Tang

They brought the news that Zhigu Pass fell, his wife was captured, and the King of Jin led 3000 people to reinforce him but fell into a trap. He was ambushed twenty miles south of Zhigu Pass and disappeared after the defeat. "General Hengchong" Li Siyuan was in Yunzhou City kill.

It was a cold morning, and the field in Daibei was as windy as the grassland beyond the Great Wall.Yacheng Yunzhou, the vassal town of the Datong Army, has already surrendered at the feet of his Shatuo people. After fleeing here after being defeated in the Daibei War a few years ago, the Shatuo people finally came back again.

The troops of the three tribes of Datong were defeated at the Yanmen Pass. Li Siyuan did not miss the opportunity. Regardless of the opposition of the generals, he led [-] elite soldiers out of the pass, chasing and killing them all the way, without giving the three tribes a chance to recover.Li Hengchong's soldiers and horses were like the waves of the sea, and also like the gust of wind on the prairie. They hit the defeated soldiers of the three tribes fiercely and non-stop.

The three tribes turned from a small defeat to a big defeat, from success to defeat and finally to a rout, and then there was no resistance at all.

Li Siyuan chased the defeated soldiers, conquered Shuozhou, and then pursued all the way, finally caught up to Yunzhou, and captured Yunzhou as well.

Outside the city of Yunzhou, at the cockfighting platform, where Li Keyong and the seven generals of Yunzhou killed Duan Wenchu ​​and other court officials alive, the wind is blowing and the rain is falling!

Early in the morning, there was already blood flowing here, and the severed heads were stuck on the wooden stakes on both sides of the ten-mile road from Yunzhou to Doujitai. It was extremely terrifying.

There are men, women, old people and children on the heads.

All those who crossed the line with the Shatuo people after the defeat of the Shatuo people, even fell into trouble, and those who betrayed them at the beginning, were all arrested and beheaded one by one.

However, the people who were killed were mainly the people of the three tribes, the Anqing tribe, the Sage tribe, and the Qibi tribe. Li Hengchong issued very strict orders to the people of the three tribes, for their betrayal of Shatuo, and the surprise attack Yanmen is carrying out bloody revenge.

Especially for the Anqing tribe and the Sage tribe, which were originally known as the three tribes of Shatuo, Li Hengchong directly ordered that all men with a horizontal knife higher than three feet be killed, and the elderly women were also killed. The young women were assigned as slaves to the meritorious soldiers.

At the beginning, those tribal men who were about to be killed were still yelling at them, but later, when Li Siyuan was tired of cutting with his knives and axes, he directly made those tribal men who were about to be executed line up, and the ones in the back executed the ones in front. The execution finally caused those tough tribesmen to collapse.Among the captives, Shi Jingcun from the Anqing Department had the highest status. During the ambush in Yanmen, he was seriously injured in many places.

Seeing Li Siyuan's ruthless methods, Shi Jingcun couldn't help turning pale, his body was still in a weak state trembling uncontrollably, and a look of pain appeared on his face.

Two tall Shatuo knifemen tightly hooped his shoulders and pulled his arms to the execution platform. No matter how Shi Jingcun struggled, he was still getting closer to the blood-stained stake.

"Betrayer, when you betrayed Shatuo, you should have known that this day would come!" Li Siyuan said coldly, standing on one side with a two-handed epee in his hand, "You shouldn't have betrayed us back then, Now, it's time to pay the price. Stand still, no one can save you, not even Li Jing. Anyone who betrays Sha Tuo must die, don't resist!"

Facing death, Shi Jingcun couldn't face it calmly. He kicked and beat frantically. The two axemen called in two helpers. Four strong men grabbed the poor guy together and locked his head in place. Press firmly on the stake.

"When you get to the underworld, tell Hades that you died because you betrayed Sha Tuo!" Li Siyuan said in a voice as cold as the cold wind, "Those who betrayed Sha Tuo will never escape our revenge!"

Li Siyuan drew out his big sword with both hands, and swung it down forcefully, the big sword chopped off Shi Jingcun's neck with one stroke, blood spurted out, the head rolled away a long way, his eyes were still unsatisfied.

Throwing the sword to the guards, Li Siyuan realized that three men on horseback had come to the guillotine, led by his guards.

Li Siyuan recognized one of the knights as Shi Yan. This guy who was as strong as a big bull was a warrior in Shatuo's army. He fought against ten strong soldiers by himself.This guy used to be King Jin's personal guard before, and fought all the way up with real swords and guns. Now he should be a town general in Black Rock Fort.After all, Shi Yan is actually King Jin's adoptive son, or his brother-in-law. However, relatively speaking, Shi Yan is not as close and trusted by King Jin as he is, but this guy is definitely a fierce general.

The two didn't have much friendship in private, but he was a little surprised to see Shi Yan appearing here at this time.He looked at several people, "What happened, General Shi!"

Shi Yan jumped off his horse and walked quickly to him with a heavy face, "Something happened, Zhigu Pass was lost, Madam and General Li Kening were captured, King Jin didn't know, he led [-] troops to go, but in Zhigu Pass Twenty miles away from Guguan, Li Jing personally led an army to ambush him, and all three thousand soldiers and horses were killed, and the whereabouts of King Jin was also unknown, and he did not know if he was alive or dead." He reported the bad news in a sad tone.

Li Siyuan froze on the spot all of a sudden, his mind was filled with the words, Madam was captured.At this time, he suddenly discovered that he was more concerned about his wife's capture than the two major bad news of his wife's capture and King Jin's defeat and disappearance.

"how can that be?"

As far as he knew, Li Jing didn't have many soldiers and horses to attack Daibei. All together, there were only more than 3000 soldiers, and many of them were auxiliary soldiers.Moreover, Li Jing conquered several states in a row, and even divided troops to guard them. At most, there were more than 3000 soldiers and horses in his hands.Madam is guarding Zhigu Pass, and there are more than [-] people in the hands of General Li Kening. Why did Zhigu Pass fall so quickly?Moreover, when he and the King of Jin divided their forces, the King of Jin had [-] cavalry, but why did he take [-] to Zhigu Pass?What about the rest of the team?Even if there were only [-] troops, how could King Jin be ambushed by Li Jing all of a sudden?

There were countless questions circling in his mind, which made him unable to believe Shi Yan's words.

"Everything is Li Jing's conspiracy!" Shi Yan said with his head down. "Li Jing was unable to encircle Zhigu Pass before, so he led his wife to send troops from Yanmen to rescue, so that the three tribes of Datong could take the opportunity to attack Yanmen. Then he used his wife to lead the king of Jin back to reinforce the army, and when the king of Jin left the large army, he led the cavalry After going back to Taihang Mountain, we immediately dispatched a surprise army to attack Black Rock Fort and Flying Fox City, then captured Zhigu Pass, and encircled King Jin."

"Aren't you guarding the Black Rock Castle? Why can't you defend it? Li Jing only has [-] men in his hands. How can he attack Gu Pass and Black Rock Castle at the same time?"

Shi Yan has been feeling guilty these days. It can be said that the fall of Blackstone Castle was the beginning of this series of disasters. "Li Jing mobilized two very powerful troops," he told Li Siyuan, "these are air troops, specially descending from the sky, no matter how dangerous the checkpoint is, they can't stop them."

Li Siyuan wondered what kind of air force Li Jing had that was so powerful.But these are not the top priority now, the most important thing right now is to figure out the whole situation in Shatuo.

"Where did you come from? When was the lady captured, and when did King Jin disappear?"

"After the fall of Blackstone Fortress, I fled the battlefield and rushed to Feihu City to report the news, but just after I arrived at Feihu City, the Qin army's vanguard also arrived. Seeing that Feihu was difficult to defend, I rushed to Lingqiu again and caught up with King Jin. Report to him. After Jin Wang heard the report, he was determined to go to Zhigu Pass to bring back his wife. He asked General Cheng Huaiyi to take 7000 troops to guard Lingqiu, and he took 3000 people to Zhigu Pass.” Shi Yan recalled: “But that was already It happened five days ago. In fact, just the night before King Jin left Feihu City, Li Jing sent troops to attack the three military strongholds of Zhigu Pass by taking a small route, and attacked Zhigu Pass guarded by General Li Kening by taking a back route. , and then Li Jing led his troops to surround the valley where his wife was going to ambush Li Jing, and forced his wife to surrender without a fight. The king of Jin was ambushed, and three thousand soldiers and horses were all lost, and life and death were unknown."

"You said Madam surrendered without a fight?" Li Siyuan couldn't believe it, and looked at Shi Yan suspiciously, Madam was definitely not that kind of person.

"Actually, Madam was about to fight Li Jing at that time, but Li Jing's killer sneaked into her side, stabbed Jingniang to death, held Madam under her arms, and Jing Shisanniang ordered to surrender without a fight."

Li Cunxin, who came after hearing the news, was shocked when he heard such a result.He looked at Shi Yan for a few times, and suddenly said: "Madam is captured, King Jin is missing, why are you safe and sound?"

"At that time, after I caught up with King Jin in Lingqiu and reported the news, I was too exhausted and passed out. King Jin asked General Cheng to take me back to Lingqiu City. Then we found out that Zhigu Pass had fallen and King Jin was missing. According to the news, General Cheng led his troops to withdraw from Lingqiu City and retreated to Taixi Pass on the border of Wei Dynasty according to King Jin's previous order. Then he sent me to report to Yanmen. Only when I arrived at Yanmen did I know that the general had defeated the invading Datong Three parts, I chased them all the way, and only now did I catch up."

Hearing that even Lingqiu City was lost, Li Hengchong's expression became gloomy again.

"Let's talk about any bad news."

Shi Yan coughed a few times, "Also, the general should know that Lingqiu City is the main road leading to Hebei, connecting Feihuxing and Puyinxing, and now Black Stone Fort, Feihu City, Lingqiu City, and Zijingguan are all lost. The two important routes of Feihuxing and Puyinxing are completely under the control of the Qin army."

"So, our [-] infantry soldiers and Wang Jingchong's [-] reinforcements were blocked east of Taihang Mountain and couldn't come?" Li Siyuan stared at Shi Yan with a low voice.

"Li Jing controls Feihuxing and Puyinxing, and there will be no more reinforcements, unless they can also create an air force like Li Jing, otherwise, they will not be able to attack Zijingguan in a short time. " Shi Yan said helplessly.

"We have to find King Jin and rescue Madam!" Li Siyuan clenched his fists and said.

"It has been five days since King Jin disappeared on the battlefield. Maybe King Jin has already died in battle." Li Cunxin said coldly, "Even if King Jin is still alive, the entire Weizhou is now under the control of Li Jing. Jin Wang is alone in the enemy's territory, and it is very likely that he will fall into Li Jing's hands. As for Madam, he is already in Li Jing's hands, maybe..."

"Maybe what?" Li Siyuan stared fiercely at Li Cunxin with his eyes wide open. He knew exactly what Li Cunxin was going to say, but he absolutely could not accept that.

"Li Jing is not a gentleman, he has a lot of wives and concubines. I heard that Li Jing has always favored his wife and admires him very much." Li Cunxin said intentionally.

"Bang!" Li Siyuan couldn't bear it any longer, he punched Li Cunxin fiercely in the face, causing his nose to bleed, and he rolled on the muddy ground, in a state of embarrassment.

"Come here, tie up Li Cunxin and put him in custody!"

"Li Siyuan, I am Duke Yuhou, in charge of military law and supervising you, you have no right to arrest me!"

Li Siyuan glanced at Li Cunxin coldly, spit on the ground beside him, and said disdainfully to the guards on the side: "Take it away, and keep it under strict supervision!"

"Li Siyuan, you are taking this opportunity to eradicate your dissidents. You are plotting against the law. You want to take the opportunity to seize the military power of Shatuo. You want to replace King Jin..." Li Cunxin struggled and shouted, but unfortunately no one stepped on him.Even people like Shi Yan who were not close to Li Siyuan in the past can't help but think at this moment, King Jin was defeated and disappeared, his wife was captured, and the old patriarch was assassinated to death, and several brothers of King Jin were still young, and among them A few capable men like Li Kexiu and Li Kening were all defeated and became Li Jing's captives.Among the many adopted sons of the King of Jin, Li Siyuan is now the deputy commander of the army, and he just won the Yanmen counterattack, and captured the two states of Yunshuo in one fell swoop, and his prestige is extremely high.The rest of the righteous sons in charge of the army, Li Sizhao, Li Cunzhang, Li Si'en, and Li Siben are still in Hebei, separated by the Taihang Mountains.Li Cunjin, Li Cunxin, and Li Cunjin's qualifications and prestige are not enough. Compared with Li Siyuan, Li Cunxin is now in custody again. The entire Shatuo Army, the four prefectures of Dai, Xin, Yun, and Shuo to the east of Taihang Mountain, are now completely controlled by Li Siyuan. decision.

Even if Li Siyuan really had some thoughts, at this moment, no one would stand up and say anything.

"We want to find King Jin and rescue his wife!" After Li Cunxin was tied up and imprisoned, Li Siyuan's act of killing chickens and monkeys received excellent results.Even Li Cunxin, who was responsible for supervising the army, was locked up by Li Siyuan. Who would dare to ignore Li Siyuan's prestige at this time.

"The king of Jin is caught in the enemy's territory in Weizhou, trying to find it is like looking for a needle in a haystack." Shi Yan whispered.

Li Siyuan narrowed his eyes slightly, which was a sign before he got angry.

Shi Yan continued: "I mean that King Jin must be retrieved, but I guess that King Jin must still be alive, otherwise the Qin army will definitely publicize the news of King Jin's death. Judging from the current movement, Qin Jun is still alive. King Jin was not found. I predict that King Jin may be injured and is hiding somewhere in the mountains near Zhigu Pass. If we want to save King Jin, we can only send a small group of people to search for it."

Li Siyuan then nodded.

"General, I think that although it is very important to find King Jin and rescue his wife now, besides this, I think we should also consider how to take back Weizhou, at least to get through Feihu Xing and Puyin Xing, and reconnect with Yi State, join our troops from Hebei and Chengde Town." Shi Yan continued cautiously.

Li Siyuan said in a deep voice: "This kind of important decision must be made by King Jin after he returns!"

"General, the current situation is special. The king of Jin does not know whether he will live or die. How can he make a decision. Besides, the general is not accepted by the king's order. What's more, the general is already the deputy commander appointed by the king of Jin. Now the king is missing and his wife is not here. In terms of emotion and reason, the general should take up this heavy burden at this time. General, I ask the general to temporarily take charge of Shatuo's affairs and lead the army!"

The rest of the generals also knelt on one knee at this time, cupped their hands and said loudly: "I implore the general to temporarily take over Shatuo's affairs and lead the army!"

Li Siyuan pondered, hesitated for a long time, and nodded vigorously after a long time, "At this time of crisis, I should have done my best. Since you all value it, I will temporarily take on this important task until King Jin returns!" (To be continued.)