The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 289: Another Battle at Shayuan (Part )

Sand Garden! Sand Garden!
In Li Sixun's sight, he saw only a network of camps, pastures, houses, poplar groves, willow groves, lakes and streams, and thin green smoke and mist spread out in the flying snow. Small human figures were running around like ants moving house, scout teams were frantically waving red cloth and torches, and bells and drums were ringing everywhere.

The symphony of chaotic shouts was carried along by the bitter winter wind all the way to the top of the mountain where Li Sixun and Li Junqing were.

The men and women who were working in the nearby woodcutting industry were carrying their things and running towards the camp at full speed. The soldiers in charge of the field work were in a hurry to dodge and hit them with their scabbards and slap them, fearing that the attacking troops would have arrived nearby before these servants could even enter the camp!
The Battle of Sekigahara was already intense. The troops stationed in various places on both sides were all trembling with fear. As long as there was a large group of troops, they would rush to the battlefield. Shayuan was a key place connecting the capital, Changpingyuan, Tongguan, and Lantian, so it was no exception.

What caused such a big reaction in Shayuan Camp was the appearance of a huge mixed army in the vast snow in the north. There were about 20,000 people. They had bright flags and heavy armors. They were called Tielin Army, Weibao Army, Congmazhi Army, etc. They were all Li Keyong's ace troops, rushing towards them with murderous intent.

Tielin Army, needless to say.

During the late Tang, Five Dynasties, Song and Liao dynasties, when cold weapons were at their peak, this military unit was either a super heavy cavalry or a humanoid heavy infantry.

How heavy is it? With a delicate skin like yours, you can kill dozens of people with your bare hands.

The invading Tielin Army was an infantry that Li Keyong personally created after he entered Jinyang, out of dissatisfaction with the native warriors. From the most basic officer unit, the lieutenants, they were all his adopted sons and trusted men, such as Li Si'en and An Yuanxin. Above the commander, there were Li Luoluo, Zhou Dewei, etc. Needless to say, ordinary soldiers, if they were not a hundred-man enemy, they would not be in Li Keyong's eyes. The four towns of Hedong had plenty of troops to treat you like trash!
Even a brave man like Fu Cunshen was destined to fill trenches and charge when he first arrived in Hedong! He worked until the end of the Tianyou period, when he became an unknown commander of cavalry and infantry. This shows how fierce the competition among warriors was in those days.

The momentum of this marching army of more than 20,000 infantry and cavalry is quite astonishing, not to mention that they are armed to the teeth according to the standards of this era, with two layers of armor as the base, and are equipped with lances, steel swords, quivers, blunt weapons, and dry food bags. The convoy is also filled to the brim with various reserve weapons and armor, and there are also flags of recognition from various commanders blowing in the front.

As they squirmed, they looked like dark iron gorillas. Just looking at them was enough to make the cowards like the Shen Ce Army scatter in panic.

With such a powerful army invading, how could Shayuan not feel like it was facing a formidable enemy?
Everyone knows that this time Li Keyong is serious.

The test for Shayuan defenders comes again!

Whether the imperial court would be defeated again or the vassal states would be repelled, Zhao En waved his hand and said, "Just wait and see! Be alert! Be alert! Guard the battlements, send out the locals, and prepare the equipment! Kill all the assholes from Hedong, regardless of whether they are human or animal! Skin them naked and make dry food for Li Keyong!"

The officers gave their orders, and the civilian guards took their positions. The horns on the gates of all sides also responded. Large bundles of arrows were brought to the wall of the village, and everyone took up their bows and spears. Gold juice, stones, and large iron pots were all bubbling.

Huaixi Jiedushi Zhao Fu was sitting on the watchtower with his legs crossed, chewing a piece of dried meat.

His iron-hearted horse lance, which was already dented by killing, was placed on the railing. Beside Zhao Fu, there was a group of killers with good eyesight, covering their eyes and looking in all directions of the camp. The terrain of Shayuan is diverse, and the camp is not stable. Some camps are separated by forests. If the enemy is bold, they can break into the camp and create chaos. Day and night, they cannot relax even for a blink of an eye.

Everyone was on edge, waiting for a new round of fighting.

Li Keyong had launched several attacks on Shayuan before, but the extent was limited, just a drizzle. This time, the elite soldiers and generals who came to attack were the real enemies. Most warriors were mentally prepared for the possibility of a close-range hand-to-hand fight after the main camp was broken into.

Zhao Fu was in a daze, and the people upstairs and downstairs just gathered together to roast their food and eat lazily, cursing Li Keyong for not waking up, and daring to challenge after being repelled several times. What's the point? It's just spreading corpses all over the ground to make the sand garden fat!

"…………Heh, that fellow Li Keyong, when he endured his disgust and married the virtuous concubine to me, I saw through that he was the one who cared about me the most. He thought that he could hide it from anyone by pretending to be a loyal minister all day long? It's so funny. In this day and age, only we may still have a little bit of loyalty. When it comes to defense and observation, everyone will take care of themselves first. We are the only ones who really take the life and death of Emperor Li seriously! Tsk, we also want his wealth, his official title, and the happy life he can give us. Tsk, I am also fake. I shout long live the emperor loudly, but I also talk about him behind his back! This Tang bird is hopeless!"

"Look, the ones who come rushing over this time are all One-Eyed Dragon's beloved treasures. How can he bear to leave? It's not that easy to drive them to break camp. Even if it's Xiang Yu, how can he fight against stubborn rocks and raging fire? I guess he will be exhausted after the first attack and finally run away. Anyway, if it's me, if the saint lets me attack the fortified city and fight against the earth and rocks, I'm afraid I'll be too comfortable sitting on the throne."

"Well, I choose to play dead."

"…The One-Eyed Dragon is a second Tartar, with a large group of Tartar Xi sons following him. Even if the beautiful country inside the pass is destroyed, it is still a hundred times better than the outside where you will freeze if you steal a bird. Isn't he drooling? Those warriors in Hedong are also more greedy than the barbarians, and they are very jealous of the saint. I think we should have a few hard fights."

"…………What's there to be afraid of? The Saint has an army of over 100,000 soldiers, and the One-Eyed Dragon only brought 50,000 soldiers. I'm afraid he can't afford to exchange his life, and he doesn't dare to do so!" "…………Brother, I just returned to my country not long ago, but I am a Bian person who followed the Queen Mother and was assigned here. I don't know how the Saint's merits are calculated. If we fail, what will be the reward for taking a few heads and surrendering a few horses?"

"…………The Saint's reward is similar to Zhu Wen's, but a little better. Zhao Fu is more valued by the Saint, and he is his brother-in-law. His sister is a privy councilor in the palace, and his nephew is the Prince of Liang. You have followed the right commander, so why worry about not being able to sell it at a good price? At least, you can get dozens of horses. With the Tielin Army, if they capture a school officer, they will probably get more than ten horses. If you have a greater achievement, such as a breakthrough and a victory, you can be dismissed and may even be rewarded as a dancer in the music studio. Have you bought insurance? If you have, your family members can go to the Beijing insurance vault every year to collect money for twenty years, which seems to be thirty strings of cash per year. If you are disabled, you will get ten years…………Anyway, they will not ignore you, unless the Saint dies and the Holy Tang is gone."

All the people from Bian were grinning from ear to ear, and they just surrounded the young soldier from the Imperial Guard who was dancing with joy, asking questions and listening.

"Do you want to do the Ba Dui Zhan?"

"He dares! But remember not to be a bad person."

"What is a bad person?"

“This one…”

While the soldiers were talking nonsense and making up a bunch of outrageous stories for the sage, such as killing Hongdao with a flying spear, seizing the flag of Zhu Laosan, hunting wolves with bare hands, having sex with a hundred women in one night, and beating concubines until they vomited blood, the Bian soldiers were stunned and calm. At dusk on the second day, dozens of rockets were launched into the sky with rapid alarm bells. It meant that the enemy army, which had a short rest overnight, had launched an attack and was going to tear them apart with unprecedented ferocity.

Zhao Fu pointed in a certain direction and said, "Put on your armor and mount your horses. The loudest noise is over there, and there are also rumblings of horse hooves. They are probably planning to break into the camp and turn us upside down in one fell swoop! Get rid of them first, and then go after the Tielin Army!"

Ouyang Jian asked hurriedly: "Should we inform the Saint that since we are fighting the Tielin Army, we should ask him to attack Li Keyong fiercely?"

Zhao Fu climbed onto his mount and took the lance. Looking back, he saw that the 60 million cavalrymen, leopard soldiers, and eagle soldiers assigned to him by the sage had already been prepared and were just waiting for the order.

Zhao Fuhe lowered his armor and said, "No need. This time Li Keyong's force is very powerful. The sage is experienced in using troops and has his own ideas. Before new orders, just fight us. If we win, we will go to Dali to encircle the one-eyed dragon. If we lose, we will give up Shayuan and retreat to Huayin City!"

After saying this, he unfurled his horse spear and said loudly: "This battle can be the basis for victory. If we defeat them again, I don't know when Li Keyong will attack Shayuan again. Although the Ma Zhi are difficult to resist, they are outnumbered and cannot be defeated by one blow. They will retreat and will not fight for a long time. Follow me, I will only be in the front!"

"Che! As long as the flying general of Longcheng is here, the Hu horses will not be allowed to cross Yinshan Mountain! Let's fight to the death!" Zhao Fu pulled the rope and rushed out with one man and one horse. Thousands of cavalrymen, expressionless, just faced the direction where the desert storm was coming!
********
The rolling dark clouds symbolized the rampant soldiers and bandits, and the rare winter thunder and lightning also illuminated the large group of horses winding along the hillside, making them appear and disappear. It also illuminated the camps spread out on the plains in the distance, with beacon towers standing in between, as if waiting for their arrival.

There were several thousand men in this large group, all cavalry. The sturdy iron-clad monsters on horseback were mostly dressed in Han Chinese clothes, but most of their very unusual facial features had not yet been assimilated into Han Chinese clothes. Flat mouths, small eyes, upturned noses... Occasionally, there were some with braided hair, wearing a large wolfskin collar hat for warmth, and wrapped in a cloak. Han, Tatar, Xi, Jurchen, Khitan, Turk, Uighur... In recent years, the Central Plains has been in chaos, and the four barbarians, especially the north, have also attacked each other, making it a mess. I'm afraid that Li Keyong has gathered all the species.

One man and two horses, carrying a huge leather bag, just whistled forward. The strong wind in the dead of winter and the dark sky made it difficult to see everything, but it did not slow down their pace. Li Junqing and Li Sixun, who were standing on the side of the road, stood side by side with their mountain-like figures, just squinting at the bottom of the mountain and muttering something.

Several riders suddenly caught up from behind, the first of which were Zhang Congshan and Shi Jingtang's father Nie Ji. The former was a Turk. The latter was a white-skinned Western Yi, whose ancestors followed the Zhuxie tribe to the Tang Dynasty and was a follower of Li Keyong's family.

Zhang Congshan put on his armor and a big fur collared hat similar to those of the barbarians. He was chewing a half-stale Hu pancake in his hand. When he saw Li Junqing and the others, he just greeted them nonchalantly: "Is Shayuan downstairs? Is this the largest ranch in the interior? It's really a unique place! It's beautiful!"

Li Junqing interrupted coldly: "I didn't ask you to come here to see the scenery. The defenders have sent troops to stop us. Get ready! Put on your armor!"

Zhang Congshan waved his hands nonchalantly: "Don't panic, don't panic. We are brave men. We can charge into the camps of the Yan army of 70,000 at will. As long as we can capture the horses, we can charge in a hundred rounds. Not to mention the rotten camp of 30,000 people now! ... It's a good plan to set up defenses here, and it's courageous enough... But..."

He sneered a few times: "…………No matter how brave you are, no matter how good your calculations are, if you don't have the skills to fight, what good are you?"

Zhang Congshan threw away the Hu pancake in his hand, his red and yellow eyes glowed in the dark wind and dust, as if he was possessed by the killer Zhang Yanze of the Five Dynasties. He put on his armor and waved his hand fiercely: "Follow the horses and attack the camp!"

(End of this chapter)