Traveling the Heavens in Thunderbolt

Chapter 1098 Beiliang Rebellion

Xu Fengnian smiled and said, "Mr. Zhao, are you worried about Beiliang?"

Zhao Siku asked in confusion: "Can our family really live the way we want in Beiliang?"

Xu Fengnian nodded and said, "Of course."

Zhao Siku said softly, "At the beginning, the young master was optimistic about Chen Zhibao because he hoped that this white-robed soldier fairy could carry forward Beiliang and not let Li Yang destroy the foundation that the old prince had worked so hard to build. Now that Beiliang has taken over the three states of Beimang, it has the potential to dominate the world, far better than when the young master was alive. It can't be said that the young master made a mistake in choosing someone. After all, there was no King Yan at that time, and there was no such a combination of time, place, and people. But if the young master could really live to this day, he probably wouldn't have too much resentment."

Xu Fengnian said with emotion: "For counselors, the size of their own temperament is one thing, the height of their foothold is another, and they should do their job in their position. Just like Yuan Benxi has always been ranked higher than my master Li Yishan, the Yangcai Zhao Changling, and the late Nalan Youci among the counselors of the Spring and Autumn Period. In fact, it is not necessarily that the talent of this half-tongue counselor is higher than theirs. It is that he stands on the best stage of Liyang, and naturally has the most resources to mobilize. But it is also because of this that he was killed at Tiemenguan. If Zhao Changling had not died, Beiliang would not be limited to the three states of Beimang."

Zhao Siku took a deep look at the young prince, whose temperament and appearance were different. "Your Highness has such a broad mind, which is a blessing for Beiliang. I thought it was enough to fulfill the young master's wish, but I didn't expect that he could live a few more years."

At this point, Zhao Siku recalled: "When the Qin lost its power, heroes from all over the world chased it. For eight hundred years, it has been divided and united. Only four hundred years ago, the Dafeng Dynasty showed signs of unifying the north and the south, but in the end, it set a precedent for the northern barbarians to invade the Central Plains from the south. After that, no dynasty could rest assured about the north, and this dynasty is no exception. Prime Minister Zhang Julu has been in charge of government for more than twenty years. Half of the time, he has been watching the northern border. Together with General Gu Jiantang, he has only pulled the disadvantage to a balance. It was not easy for Beiliang to suppress Beimang and gain the upper hand. Liyang is going to kill himself again. The world is about to be in chaos. I wonder what will happen to the world?"

Xu Fengnian said, "How is the world? You can wait and see, old sir."

At this time, the sound of horse hooves came from afar.

Ning Emei arrived with five hundred elite cavalrymen from the Feng Camp.

Ning Emei dismounted and saluted, "Greetings, Your Majesty."

Xu Fengnian asked: "How are the preparations going?"

Ning Emei reported: "General Xu has led 30,000 Liangzhou Left Cavalry, 3,000 White Horse Conquerors, and 1,000 Snow Dragon Cavalry to their positions, waiting for the prince's order."

Xu Fengnian mounted the White Hoofed Crow, the horse he had ridden in the battle in Northern Mang, and gave a cold order: "Pass on my order, and send troops out of Northern Liang. Target: Tai'an City!"

"As ordered!"

In the winter of the second year of Fuxiang, the imperial edict from Liyang had not yet reached Beiliang, but was intercepted at the border of Liliang by the new Beiliang King Xu Fengnian and his troops.

The person sent by Liyang to Beiliang to convey the imperial eunuch's order was killed by Xu Fengnian, and only the leading eunuch was released.

Xu Fengnian asked him to go back to Tai'an City and tell Zhao Zhuan.

The King of Beiliang will go to Tai'an City in person to meet with the Emperor of Liyang.

The leading eunuch brought the news back to Tai'an City, shocking the entire Liyang court.

If the plan fails, it will backfire on you.

Along with the leading eunuch came news from the front line.

The King of Beiliang personally led 30,000 cavalry and broke into Hezhou from Youzhou.

The garrison of Li Yang in Hezhou had no time to gather before they were defeated by the King of Beiliang.

Hezhou, an important border defense base of Liyang, has fallen into the hands of Beiliang.

The change of hands of Hezhou finally made the Liyang Dynasty realize the seriousness of the matter. Beiliang rebelled.

Liyang Emperor Zhao Zhuan first announced that Beiliang had rebelled, and that everyone in the Beiliang palace was a traitor to Liyang and their crime was unforgivable.

If there are those in the Northern Liang army who have lost their way and come back to the right path, Li Yang can deal with them at his discretion and allow them to make meritorious contributions while serving their sentences.

At the same time, he ordered Zhao Yang, Prince of Changshan, to be the chief commander, and Gao Shizhi, Duke of Yan, to be his deputy, and to lead the elite troops of the capital to the front line of Jizhou to repel the invading Northern Liang rebels.

For this purpose, Li Yang even dispatched an elite division that was specifically responsible for the safety of the capital. The three major camps of the Western Army stationed in Jifu, with Xileiying as the main force, were mobilized in full force, with as many as 7,000 elite troops, half of which were cavalry and half were infantry.

Jizhou Liyang, which is also an important border defense area, also has 80,000 troops here.

Together with the remnants of the defeated troops who had escaped from Hezhou, the total number of troops had reached over 100,000.

As for the Beiliang side, Xu Fengnian was either too angry or underestimated the enemy, so he only brought less than 40,000 Beiliang cavalry.

Both Zhao Yang and Gao Shizhi were warriors who had experienced the wars of the Spring and Autumn Period.

Among them, Zhao Yang is a veteran who ranks among the top ten in terms of military merit in the Liyang Dynasty.

After arriving at the front line in Jizhou, the two received news that Xu Fengnian did not continue his advance, but instead divided his troops to attack cities and seize territories in Hezhou, with no intention of moving south.

Veteran General Zhao Yang thought that this world-famous dandy prince was too young and believed that the Northern Liang Iron Cavalry was truly invincible, thus missing the opportunity to fight.

Let him and Gao Shizhi lead the Western Army of the Capital together, so that they can calmly reorganize the troops in Jizhou.

With the efforts of Zhao Yang and Gao Shizhi and the call of Li Yang, troops from nearby states and counties arrived one after another to support the king.

The number of combat-ready soldiers assembled in Jizhou has reached 120,000.

Zhao Yang originally planned to garrison Jizhou, but Liyang also received news that Xu Fengnian led less than 40,000 Beiliang cavalry and divided his troops to attack Hezhou.

Zhao Zhuan convened a small court meeting in the Yangshen Hall. Participating in the meeting were the Minister of the Central Secretariat Qi Yanglong, the Vice Minister of the Central Secretariat Zhao Youling, the Left Prime Minister of the Ministry of Menxia Huan Wen, the Left Palace Attendant Chen Wang, the Minister of Personnel Yin Maochun, the Minister of War Xu Gong, the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace Wen Shouren, the Grand Secretary of Dongyuan Pavilion Yan Jiexi, the Marquis of Huaiyang Song Daoning, the Vice Minister of War Tang Tieshuang, and the Vice Minister of Rites Jin Lanting.

The hall is packed with talents of both civil and military affairs.

After some discussion, everyone in Liyang agreed that they should take advantage of the fact that the Northern Liang army was not yet firmly established and its troops had not yet arrived, and gather superior forces to destroy it in one fell swoop.

Zhao Zhuan immediately issued an edict, ordering Prince Zhao Yang of Changshan to send troops to Hezhou to suppress the rebels.

After receiving the order from Liyang and discussing with Gao Shizhi, Zhao Yang also believed that the opportunity for battle could not be missed.

We should seize this opportunity to send troops to wipe out the invading Northern Liang army in one fell swoop and recover the Hezhou land lost by the imperial court.

They immediately broke camp and marched to Xionghai Pass at the junction of He and Ji.

This pass is located between two mountain ranges. It is a steep pass occupied by the Northern Liang army, and there are only 3,000 Liang soldiers inside the pass.

Seeing that there were few soldiers inside the pass, Zhao Yang immediately deployed his troops and began to attack the city.

Although the Beiliang army inside the pass was small in number, they demonstrated impressive combat effectiveness.

The Zhaoyang army attacked for six consecutive days without success, and countless soldiers were killed or wounded due to the obstruction of the offensive, and their morale was low.

On the seventh day, Zhao Yang led his entire army to attack Xionghai Pass.

The battle lasted from morning to noon, but Xionghai Pass was still not captured.

Seeing that the attacking soldiers were hungry and tired, Zhao Yang could only sound the call to call back the troops, make a fire and cook, in preparation for the afternoon siege.

At this time, a cavalry force of about a thousand people suddenly appeared on the right side of Zhaoyang's army.

The commander of this cavalry was Xu Fengnian, who was supposed to attack cities and seize territories in Hezhou.

Xu Fengnian did not give the Zhaoyang army any time to react. He directly led a small number of cavalry to attack the Zhaoyang army, whose morale was low and which had no time to form a battle formation.

(End of this chapter)