Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 385 I seem to have defeated Duan Shao?

The banquet is over.

Everyone said goodbye and left.

Dugu Yongye even stood up personally and walked Yang Su all the way to the door with a smile.

After everyone left, Dugu Xuda finally walked slowly to his father's side. Dugu Xuda was different from those fanatical guys. He looked much calmer.

He slowly opened his mouth and asked, "Grandpa, I think Yang Su is not someone you can trust easily."

"He is an envoy of the Zhou people. After he came, he seemed to be giving advice to my grandfather, but in fact, he has been contacting officials in the country, setting up banquets from time to time and discussing important matters with them. This person cannot be easily trusted."

Dugu Yongye glanced at his good-for-nothing son. At that moment, his eyes were fanatical and his mind was full of prophecies and the throne he was about to sit on.

"What do you know?!"

Dugu Yongye said unhappily: "If he really wanted to rebel, he should have colluded with the generals, not those idle literati!"

"Have you ever seen a rebel contact civil officials to rebel?"

"Besides, if he really had something wrong, would someone like you be able to see it?"

Dugu Xuda was choked by his father and was speechless. He asked suspiciously, "What does Yang Su want to do?"

Dugu Yongye patted his son's shoulder and said with a smile: "Can't you see this?"

"This Yang Su, no, it's Gao Su, he wants to become my prime minister!"

"Prime Minister?"

"Yes, contact the civil officials. This is to compete for the position of prime minister. Think about it, he is a Zhou person who came from afar. Suddenly he was promoted and no one obeyed him. He has no helpers and no friends in the court. How can he become prime minister just by relying on my promotion?"

"That's why he contacted those ministers on purpose. His goal was to make them work for him and support him to become the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty."

Dugu Xuda felt something was wrong, very wrong.

Yang Su is a man who looks smiling and harmless, but what he says is extremely scary.

At that time, Dugu Xuda once asked him about the principles of governing those new prefectures and counties, but he smiled and said that it would be enough to "kill all the people so that they dare not rebel."

Dugu Xuda didn't think this guy was a kind-hearted person who wanted to help his father ascend the throne.

But he also knew that his father would not listen to any of his advice at this moment.

His mind was full of Jin Dao Liu.

Looking at his worried son, Dugu Yongye smiled and patted his shoulder again, "Don't worry, I know what to do."

After leaving the office, Yang Su got on a carriage and quickly returned to his residence.

Yang Su often interacted with many local civil officials in his own mansion. He discussed classics, composed poems and drank wine with them.

That’s right, Yang Su was also a master of writing poetry.

Sometimes he really looks like Zu Ting.

Both of them are versatile talents who know everything and can do everything.

Yang Su had close contacts with many famous people in the country, and their relationship became better and better.

At this moment, many famous people and talented people were waiting for him in his mansion.

These so-called celebrities were all scions of prominent families from many prefectures and counties in Henan. They were not very welcome by Dugu Yongye.

Dugu Yongye was a Han Chinese, but those he appointed were all old Xianbei people in the country and the Han Chinese clans in the Heluo region.

Han people from other regions could not integrate into the group, and could not even hold positions under Dugu Yongye.

If you force yourself to join, you will be bitten to death immediately by the powerful Heluo sect.

Yang Su was saved from any danger thanks to Dugu Yongye's protection.

Yang Su was the same as usual, even though he had just had a drink with Dugu Yongye, he was still able to continue drinking with the celebrities.

He chatted and laughed with everyone, and was not as cold as he usually was towards the people.

In other words, the people in front of him were the people that Yang Su truly recognized, while those common people at the bottom were just cattle and tools in his eyes.

Everyone was quite curious about the General's Banquet that Yang Su was attending, and asked about the situation.

Yang Su did not hide it either. He spoke with great interest about the old immortal who came to tell fortunes for Dugu Yongye today.

Yang Su spoke of this matter sincerely, his face full of admiration.

"He is indeed a great general. His appearance is so unique that the old Taoist could tell he was extraordinary at a glance."

Hearing Yang Su's praise, the famous scholars looked at each other with deep disdain in their eyes.

Someone couldn't help but say, "I was wondering, a few days ago I saw them putting an old Taoist in a carriage, beating and scolding him all the way, parading through the streets, I was wondering what they were doing, now I know, it turns out they were forcing him to read fortunes."

The other celebrities all laughed out loud.

They didn't care about Dugu Yongye at all, and they weren't even worried that what they said here would be spread out.

Yang Su did not stop them, but just looked at the people in front of him with a smile.

Yang Su actually didn't like these people that much, but these people could do many things, such as
After Dugu Yongye's disastrous defeat, they were able to surrender to the Great Zhou with their respective states and counties.

These people were very powerful in the local area, and local officials were basically composed of their people. Dugu Yongye looked down on them, but Yang Su loved them very much.

At the same time, Yang Su had also foreseen Dugu Yongye's disastrous defeat in the future.

This guy will never amount to anything. Even if he manages to defeat Liu Taozi by chance this time, he will never amount to anything in the future.

As long as Dugu Yongye falls, he will have the opportunity to take over the entire Henan province for the Great Zhou without bloodshed.

Yang Su couldn't wait any longer.

Gaodu County.

On both sides of the official road from the county seat to Hanoi are hills and gullies that have accumulated over the years.

There are large areas of dense forests near the city, but the forests are so dense that even the army cannot hide in them, and horses cannot pass through.

Only if you walk further towards Hanoi can you see the vast terrain.

On the left side of the official road, a group of soldiers were lying on the ground, staring at the road in the distance.

Duan Shao was among these soldiers.

Several generals lay on his left and right, staring at the distance together.

They didn't know why Duan Shao suddenly brought them here, nor did they know why they had been lying here all this time.
Duan Shao narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Liu Taozi is a person with a strong desire for revenge."

"He knows that I am in his territory, so he will definitely send people to cut off our retreat route, which is Hanoi. I think our general may also be sending people to shrink the defense line and want to abandon several cities outside the Hanoi defense line."

"If that happens, we will become lonely ghosts, wandering among the enemies with nowhere to hide."

Duan Shao whispered, and several generals around him were horrified.

Some of them understood what Duan Shao meant. The general was going to abandon them?
How is this possible?
Duan Shao did not continue to explain to them. He just stared into the distance and said, "If you want to cut off our retreat, you need to send an army to Gaodu as quickly as possible to occupy the main road in Henei and prevent us from returning to Heluo."

"This is the fastest road, and the enemy's army will definitely pass through here at the fastest speed."

"This is our only chance."

"If we can defeat the enemy army coming from afar here, we can return and carry out subsequent defense based on the tall and solid city walls."

"Da Sima, why don't we leave now?"

"If we run now, the enemy won't be able to stop us!"

"Okay, then you should write to His Majesty and ask for an immediate retreat. If His Majesty agrees, I will go back with you."

Duan Shao said again.

The general suddenly didn't dare to speak anymore.

Duan Shao was very clear about his situation. Dugu Yongye did not ask him to suppress the rebellion, he wanted to get rid of him and make him suffer greater losses.
If I go back now, I might be disobeying the imperial order and withdrawing troops without permission.

You must come up with something reasonable to be able to go back with a clear conscience.

The dense forest in the distance began to sway slowly, and birds flew up one after another, flapping their wings, and disappeared to both sides.

Duan Shao was overjoyed.

I really got myself blocked!!

Liu Taozi's army had a total of 40,000 to 50,000 people. Duan Shao absolutely did not dare to use his small cavalry to engage in a head-on confrontation with Liu Taozi's army.

However, if Liu Taozi wanted to block his way back, he would not lead the army slowly forward, but would definitely send the army from a certain state to march quickly to block the road.

Duan Shao felt that he could still do it when facing the army of an entire state alone and in the event of a sudden attack.

Sure enough, after a shaking, the enemy's flag slowly appeared in the distance.

More and more enemies popped up from the road in the distance.

The vanguard army of the Han State was indeed advancing towards the intersection here at a forced march.

Duan Shao immediately stood up and said, "Get ready."

"When the enemy leaves the official road, we will charge in and kill them."

"only!!"

Everyone stood up and went back to prepare.

On the road in the distance, Han soldiers were appearing in large numbers.

They raised a flag with the word "Yao" on it to show their affiliation. They were the Shuozhou soldiers under Yao Xiong.

A group of knights led the way, many of them wearing armor, and behind the knights were infantrymen, who were also wearing armor and holding spears, trotting along.

Duan Shao narrowed his eyes and did not stay where he was.

If he stayed where he was, he would be discovered by the enemy scouts, and the time to start the attack would mainly depend on Duan Shao's own estimation.

Duan Shao led everyone to leave the high ground in advance, and then came to the southernmost part of the official road, which was where the army came out of the dense forest.

Duan Shao believed that after the army left the area suitable for ambush, the generals would have a moment of relaxation, and that moment of relaxation would be the best time to send troops.

Duan Shao looked at the sky, and after deciding that he had the weather and geography under control, he decisively decided to send troops.

"kill!!!"

The moment the Han soldiers walked out of the official road, shouts of killing were heard from three sides of them, and they saw fully armed knights charging towards them.

The Han army was immediately excited, and then they quickly began to prepare for battle.

Duan Shao rode his warhorse and rushed towards the enemy.

Suddenly, he saw the knights start to put on armor, and then he saw the infantry start to put on armor.

The enemy formed the simplest formation, with sword and shield soldiers blocking the outermost edge, while the soldiers inside were changing from marching to combat status, that is, wearing armor.

Duan Shao's pupils suddenly dilated.

Even the warhorse under his crotch seemed to slow down.

In a moment, he watched the enemies in front of him increase their armor from 30% to 70%.

With the naked eye, within the visible range, all you can see are fully armed soldiers.

Their shields stood on the ground, forming a huge high wall.

The spears stood up like a forest, pointing at Duan Shao in front of them.

Yao Xiong was standing in the center of the army, yelling loudly, asking the soldiers to prepare for battle as soon as possible.

Looking at the knights charging in the distance, he shouted hurriedly.

"Whoosh~~~"

The archers standing in the front row began to fire in unison.

More than a thousand powerful crossbows fired arrows.

The density of the arrows was so high that the charging knights fell down like they were hit by a huge invisible sickle! !

Yao Xiong breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked at Dugu Jie beside him.

"Fortunately!"

"Brother had already predicted that I would make great contributions!! He gave me the best armor and powerful crossbows first!"

Dugu Jie was stunned for a moment. If he had not been at the scene at the time, he would have believed Yao Xiong's nonsense.

The King of Han ordered Yao Xiong to go ahead and cut off Duan Shao's retreat. Also, considering that Duan Shao had an excellent sense of smell and might predict his actions and ambush Yao Xiong in advance, and Yao Xiong was definitely no match for Duan Shao, in order to balance the combat power of both sides, Liu Taozi provided the weapons to Yao Xiong first.

With armor on their bodies and powerful crossbows in their hands, the Shuozhou soldiers felt a great sense of security. Facing the Baibao knights rushing towards them from afar, they were no longer so panicked.

But Duan Shao began to panic.

When the arrows that covered the sky and the sun fell towards him like raindrops, Duan Shao was stunned for a long time.

This is definitely more than a thousand crossbows, right?

And what is this armor rate? !
“Stop the attack!!”

"stop!!"

Duan Shao immediately issued an order.

It wasn't that he was afraid of the other party. The main reason was that given the other party's armor coverage and the number of powerful crossbows, even if he could defeat the other party, Bai Bao would probably die here completely.

The Baibao are very good at fighting, but being good at fighting does not mean that their weapons can easily penetrate armor, nor does it mean that they can withstand the rain of crossbow arrows.

After all, the person under that armor is a human, not a ghost!

If Yao Xiong had enough courage, he could have sent knights to pursue the enemy at the moment Duan Shao ordered to stop the attack.

But unfortunately, Yao Xiong did not have such an idea. He did not dare to attack rashly. They came from a long distance and their army was very tired. If they gave pursuit and were defeated by Duan Shao, that would be bad.

He just kept giving the order to shoot.

Duan Shao led the knights, leaving behind a large number of corpses and leaving quickly.

After this encounter, Duan Shao understood that he couldn't attack by force.

These people have been turned into iron lumps by Liu Taozi, and the few people under his command are simply not enough to deal with them! !

Looking at the enemy troops retreating in the distance, Yao Xiong was a little confused.

He looked at the generals around him again.

"Just now, did I defeat Duan Shao?"

Dugu Jie did not answer, but his eyes were extremely complicated.

It wasn't General Yao who defeated Duan Shao.

It was the national strength of the Han State that defeated Duan Shao.

In other words, it was the group of wise men who surrounded the King of Han and worked hard to govern the country who defeated Duan Shao.

ps: I was confused while writing and my mind was empty just now. As I was writing, I looked down and I didn’t know what I had posted. I read it wrong and posted it wrong. I posted Chapter 382 at the very beginning and wanted to modify it, but then I sent it all out.

I sat there for a long time before I reacted and contacted the editor, but then I remembered that the editor was sleeping, so I'll revise it tomorrow. My mind is empty, and I feel like I've drained myself. I can't take it anymore. I need to catch up on some sleep. I'll continue writing tomorrow after I've had a good rest. Good night.

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(End of this chapter)