Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 446 Ten Thousand Enemies

Huang Fate frowned, "Is it Yuwen Yong who is chasing after them personally?"

Gao Yanzong laughed out loud.

He looked at a knight beside him and said, "Take General Huang and the others and evacuate first."

Huang Fate was shocked, "The general?"

"Of course I will stay behind to cover your retreat!"

"How dare I let the king's beloved general cover my retreat? I will do it myself."

"Don't say any more. The enemy is coming. Go, go."

Gao Yanzong waved his hand disdainfully and asked Huang Fachi and others to leave. Huang Fachi saw that he could not persuade him, so he had to beg Gao Yanzong again and again, hoping that he would not take risks, and then he led the soldiers to continue to evacuate.

Gao Yanzong clenched the spear in his hand, widened his eyes, and stared at the approaching enemy army in the distance.

At this moment, there were only a few hundred knights around him.

Gao Yanzong laughed, "Everyone, are there any who are afraid?"

"If you are afraid, you can evacuate with Huang Fachu."

"I am willing to fight to the death with the general!!"

The knights shouted.

Gao Yanzong licked his lips and said, "Look at the scene, it's Yuwen Yong who came in person."

"General Hulu killed two dukes and became famous all over the world. My brother is in charge of Xiazhou, and everyone knows it. Now, it's our turn to make achievements!"

"I want to lead you to capture Yuwen Yong and build an unprecedented reputation. If we succeed, we will all be marquises. If we fail, we will all die. What do you think?"

The surrounding knights suddenly became excited and looked excited.

Capture Yuwen Yong alive? ?

If this can be accomplished, it will not be a matter of fame or not. Think about it, the soldiers who dismembered Xiang Yu were able to establish a thousand-year-old family.

If we could imitate those warriors and divide Yuwen Yong today, it would be unimaginable!
Everyone shouted: "We are willing to follow the general to achieve great things!"

Gao Yanzong laughed loudly, there was no fear in his eyes. He raised his spear and pointed it at the enemy.

"The enemy troops are powerful, but they are in a hurry to capture Huang Fachu and march too fast, which has ruined their formation. Whether it is the front, back, or both wings, they have been disrupted and cannot form a formation quickly. We only need to go to the center of the army and kill Yuwen Yong directly. I predict that the enemy will be in chaos and we will be able to succeed!!"

"Everyone! The time to build a great cause is now! Follow me!!"

Gao Yanzong shouted angrily, and facing the huge army in front of him, he did not retreat but advanced.

As Gao Yanzong rushed out, the knights followed him and charged together.

In a moment, they collided with the Zhou people who were charging towards them.

Speaking of which, with such a large army deployed, these hundreds of people could hardly even make a wave. They seemed so small and not worth mentioning.

Gao Yanzong attacked left and right with his spear, and the two cavalry generals were stabbed to death on the spot as soon as they met, and they fell off their horses.

Gao Yanzong's eyes were fixed on the enemy's imperial banner.

No matter how many enemies there are, as long as we can kill them to that position, everything will be solved.

Yuwen Yong was in a hurry to pursue, and the front army was quite scattered. Gao Yanzong went against the flow and fought all the way. There was no enemy under his command who could match him. The more he killed, the braver he became. The knights around him also kept charging and killing without fear. Gao Yanzong completely disrupted the enemy's attack. For a while, the enemy's center position was in chaos. Soldiers bumped into each other, officers scolded each other, and both the left and right wings noticed the chaos here.

Yuwen Yong's chariot was chasing quickly, but suddenly he saw chaos ahead and the coachmen couldn't help but slow down.

But at this moment, a roar was heard from the front, and as several cavalry generals flew out, a strong and sturdy warrior with a terrifying physique rushed out from the crowd of soldiers. When the warrior raised his head, he looked at the big banner here.

Gao Yanzong was completely out of control and rushed towards the big banner.

The soldiers around Yuwen Yong were all dumbfounded at this moment.

Gao Yanzong became ruthless and led his knights to break through Yuwen Yong's scattered and chaotic formation. Although the Zhou soldiers were numerous, orders could not be conveyed because of the chaotic formation. The officers could not see the soldiers, and the soldiers could not see the officers. Orders could not be conveyed, and the only people who could stop them were the people they met.

Yuwen Yong was shocked. Seeing the enemy rushing towards him, he drew his sword hastily, "Protect the emperor! Protect the emperor!!"

The sound of the war drums here changed its tune. Following the emperor's order, the officers on both sides realized that something was wrong and rushed to the rescue.

The result was that the army became even more chaotic. The troops, which were marching quickly, could not withstand such command and were filled with wailing.

Gao Yanzong didn't care about these, he just kept rushing towards Yuwen Yong.

Gao Yanzong was getting closer and closer, and he could even see Yuwen Yong right in front of him.

The personal soldiers around Yuwen Yong tried their best to stop them. Yuwen Yong was so frightened that his legs were shaking. A knight named Zhang Shou did not care about being rude and hurriedly grabbed the emperor and put him on the horse. The personal soldiers hit the horse's butt hard several times. Yuwen Yong fled immediately. The soldiers gathered around him and covered the emperor's escape.

Gao Yanzong was eager to pursue, but the enemies around him were increasing in number and overwhelmed him.

Gao Yanzong was extremely angry. He watched Yuwen Yong completely disappear in the crowd, and he himself was drowned.

Am I going to die here before I even accomplish anything?!

"kill!!!"

Then, shouts of killing were heard in the distance. Huang Fatic personally led the infantry and cavalry and appeared on the battlefield in front of him again. The horn sounded and a counterattack was launched.

After discovering the enemy's frontal attack, the chaotic Zhou army was completely thrown into disarray and fled in all directions.

The pressure around Gao Yanzong suddenly decreased.

He once again took the lead in pursuing Yuwen Yong.

The two sides started a melee on the field. Gao Yanzong chased and killed Huang Fachi all the way, while Huang Fachi took the opportunity to attack fiercely, as if he wanted to vent all his anger in recent days.

The Zhou army was defeated.

The battle lasted until dark.

The Zhou people left behind many corpses and returned in defeat.

Gao Yanzong, with a frustrated look on his face, led his knights to meet Huang Fachi again.

Huang Fachi hurriedly stood up, and the generals around him looked at Gao Yanzong with different eyes.

What kind of monster is this?

This is basically defeating the entire Zhou army with one's own strength!
At this moment, Xiao Mohe's eyes became much more solemn when he looked at Gao Yanzong. Seeing Gao Yanzong coming over, he couldn't help but sighed: "The general is really a brave warrior."

Gao Yanzong was very disappointed. He looked at Huang Fachu and shook his head, "I failed to achieve fame and let Yuwen Yong escape."

Huang Fatic pursed his lips. He didn't know how to comfort Gao Yanzong, and he didn't even know whether he should comfort him.

The Zhou people had defeated us many times before, forcing us to retreat repeatedly. Our morale was high and we were invincible. But you, with hundreds of elite cavalry, defeated them. How arrogant the Zhou people were when they came, and how embarrassed they were when they ran away.

Isn’t this enough?

Huang Fachu had no choice but to say: "The general is still young, and now he has defeated Yuwen Yong with a small force, which is an extraordinary achievement."

"In the future, I will definitely be able to kill the evil thief Yuwen Yong and establish extraordinary merits!"

Gao Yanzong asked again: "Didn't I tell you to leave? Why did you come back?"

"After walking for a long time, I heard shouts of killing from the rear. The enemy's formation was in chaos, so I led the troops back. Thanks to the general, we were able to win this victory. Our army has been looking forward to this victory for a long time. Thank you, general!"

Huang Fachi, regardless of his status, immediately bowed to Gao Yanzong.

Gao Yanzong hurriedly helped him up and said helplessly: "I think among the people of Chen, only you two can be called heroes. If it were anyone else, I'm afraid they wouldn't come back to save me."

"I have to thank you. Without you, I'm afraid we would have died in the battle."

The two sides praised each other for a long time.

Huang Fate then asked: "But why is the general here?"

"Before my brother left, he told me to stay here and observe the situation."

"I have often led troops here. Not long ago, I learned that you were defeated and the Zhou people wanted to encircle and annihilate you. I thought since we are allies, I would come to rescue you. If it were any other general, I would not come."

"I see."

"Then I wonder where the Heavenly King is now?"

"Ah, I don't know either. It should be in Yecheng."

"Your emperor was the same. He insisted on driving my brother away. What's going on now? My brother is gone. The Zhou cavalry is overwhelming you. You have lost Nanyang, and you still want to take Jiangling!"

The defeated soldiers of the Zhou army re-formed their battle array, surrounding the temporary commander's tent in the middle.

Yuwen Yong was sitting in the general's tent at the moment. His clothes were torn and his hands were shaking slowly.

The former arrogance was no longer visible on his face.

Defeating Chen Bing several times in a row gave him high confidence, but now that he was defeated head-on by Gao Yanzong, he felt a little dazed.

"His Majesty!!"

Then someone exclaimed, and a moment later, Yuwen Xian rushed into the tent in a hurry.

The soldiers did not dare to stop them.

Yuwen Xian, looking flustered, rushed in here and looked hurriedly at Yuwen Yong.

After seeing that his emperor was safe and sound, he was obviously relieved. When he saw the emperor being attacked, he was so scared that his legs went limp.

When Yuwen Yong saw him, his face finally brightened up again, "Ah Xian."

"Brother!"

Yuwen Xian knelt before Yuwen Yong and said, "I failed to protect Your Majesty and frightened you. I deserve death."

"Ugh."

Yuwen Yong took a few steps forward and helped Yuwen Xian up. His eyes were filled with sorrow. "At the beginning, all the generals advised me to stay in the rear and not to go to the front. I didn't listen, so I was defeated. How can I blame others for this?"

"This is all my fault!"

"I don't know anything about military affairs!"

Yuwen Yong's face was full of regret.

Yuwen Xian said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, although we have suffered setbacks, our army still has the upper hand. All the places in Anzhou have been captured by us. Huang Fachu fled and only a few isolated cities were left. They will be captured by us sooner or later. The Chen people were still driven out of Jingbei by us. Why is your majesty like this?"

Yuwen Yong knew that his brother was just comforting him.

If he had not acted on his own initiative, even if the army failed to kill Huang Fachi, the results of the battle could at least be doubled and the surrounding cities would have been captured long ago. It was not like the current situation, where a good situation was ruined because of his reckless pursuit.

Yuwen Yong held his brother's hand and said seriously: "If there is another war in the future, Ah Xian must keep an eye on me. If there is anything inappropriate, immediately advise me and show no mercy."

Yuwen Yong then ordered the burial of the dead soldiers and rewarded those soldiers who were defeated because of him.

After doing all this, Yuwen Yong couldn't help but ask, "Whose subordinates are those cavalrymen who are charging?"

"Your Majesty, they are undoubtedly Han soldiers. I heard that they are the Han thief Chuzhou General Gao Yanzong."

"General Chuzhou? What is General Chuzhou doing here? Gao Yanzong. I remember this man. Azhi died at his hands."

"Gao Changgong and Gao Yanzong, there are actually two powerful generals in this family."

"Especially this younger brother, he is even braver than his brother!"

Yuwen Xian was also somewhat helpless. "Han State has taken all the advantages of Qi State. There are many Hu people in the army. They are all brave and good at fighting. The old soldiers from Jinyang were distributed to various places as backbones. These old soldiers have always been brave and difficult to deal with."

"Indeed, this Han soldier is completely different from Chen's soldier!"

Yuwen Yong had already experienced this deeply at this moment.

He quickly asked his brother about the next strategy.

Yuwen Xian was still conservative. He believed that they could no longer rush into pursuit and should take advantage of the opportunity to capture all the cities occupied by the enemy in the rear, and then re-defend the border between the two countries to prevent the Chen people's attacks from happening again.

After doing all this, it is time to withdraw. The emperor cannot leave the temple for too long.

However, this was only Yuwen Xian's idea. Most of the other veterans still wanted to continue the pursuit. It was a rare opportunity to meet a weak opponent, so why not squeeze him and just go back?

At present, the Chen people have suffered many defeats, their troops have no morale and are fleeing everywhere. If they can make good use of this opportunity, it will not be impossible to capture many cities in Lianghuai. They still need military merit.

Yuwen Yong comprehensively considered the ideas of the generals in the army and decided to give priority to Yuwen Xian and assist the others. Even as the emperor, he did not dare to completely ignore the generals' ideas, especially after he had just sent out a wave.

He ordered Yuwen Xian to capture the city, and let Yuchi Jiong lead a small group of elite cavalry to pursue and kill the enemy to gain military merit.

Huang Fachu reorganized his army and continued to fight against the Zhou people.

Gao Yanzong didn't participate much as he had other things to do.

When news of the war continued to spread back to Jiankang, it caused constant shock in Jiankang.

The war was becoming increasingly unfavorable to the State of Chen. Originally, they were full of vigor and ambition and were planning to capture Jiangling. However, in such a short period of time, they had lost all their previous achievements. The enemy was now approaching their own territory.

People in the city were talking about this and began to look for a qualified person to be held responsible for the defeat.

"Huang Fachu's command was inappropriate!!"

Within the palace.

The ministers were passionate and were impeaching General Huang Fachu for his poor performance in battle.

Well, it wasn’t just that he fought poorly. The ministers believed that Huang Fachi was defeated because he was afraid of the enemy and disobeyed the imperial order.

When the war just started, the emperor ordered Huang Fachi to lead the army to capture Jiangling.

However, Huang Fachu did not carry out the order. Instead, he defended himself on the spot and waited for the Zhou people to attack.

This was one of the reasons why he disobeyed the imperial edict and was afraid of the enemy not daring to approach.

Another reason was that after the battle, the Chen people suffered a crushing defeat, and many generals were beaten and fled, leaving only a few hundred people around them, and some even ran away with dozens of people.

But only Huang Fachi still retains a complete army around him.

The ministers believed that this showed that Huang Fachu was afraid of the enemy and did not engage in direct combat with the enemy, which was why he was able to preserve his forces and evacuate.

What's more, based on these two incidents, a conspiracy theory was put forward that Huang Fachi had close contacts with others and betrayed the interests of Dachen.

In their view, if Huang Fachu had not obeyed Liu Taozi's order when he had just captured Mianyang, and had ignored the issue of conquering Nanyang and directly attacked Jiangling, the situation would be different now. Chen Bing could have completely repelled the Zhou people under the protection of the navy and defended Jingbei.

But Huang Fate did not consider the interests of Dachen from the beginning, he just fawned on others.

He actively followed Liu Taozi's orders to attack Nanyang, helping the Han people resolve the crisis in Luozhou, but this caused the State of Chen to lose an excellent opportunity and even led to today's defeat.

Many of those who had been eager to capture Jiangling and gain military merit were killed in this battle, and many were captured. Their families began to help.

All this is Huang Fachi's fault.

Chen Xu sat in the upper seat, listening to the insults and accusations from the crowd without any expression.

“Total nonsense!!!”

Yuan Xian stood up and looked at everyone. He said angrily: "A pillar of the country has been framed by you!"

"How dare you do that?!"

Yuan Xian is usually a very polite gentleman and he is rarely seen angry. It is obvious that he is really angry now.

He said unhappily, "You have never been to the front line. How can you know the situation there better than General Huang himself? General Huang has fought many battles, so is he not as good as you in judging the situation?"

"Have you ever fought in a war? Have you ever been on the battlefield? Have you ever seen Jiang Ling?"

Yuan Xian kept asking questions, but some people were not convinced, "You haven't fought a battle, so you can't tell whether General Huang is right or wrong?"

"If this battle was not Huang Fachu's fault, then whose fault was it?"

Yuan Xian was about to answer subconsciously, but suddenly closed his mouth.

If we have to find someone to blame for this battle, it must be someone who drove away the allies and turned the advantage into a disadvantage.

But I can't say this.

Yuan Xian took a deep breath and said, "This battle is my fault. I failed to prepare winter clothes on time, which led to the defeat. All the faults are mine."

He walked forward and bowed deeply to Chen Xu.

"Please punish me, Your Majesty."

Chen Xu let out a long sigh.

"Things have come to this point. What's the point of pursuing this?"

"Send someone to tell General Huang not to worry and just focus on the battle."

When the ministers heard Chen Xu speak, they dared not say anything more. They all bowed and thanked him, calling him wise.

Chen Xu's expression was particularly complicated.

Does Liu Taozi's presence or absence have such a big impact on the situation?

Could it be that the fault of this war is mine? ?
(End of this chapter)