The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 67 Mibei Lake and Li Zan
Green is all over the mountains and the plains are white and full of rivers, and the sound of Zigui is raining like smoke.

West bank of Laohe River.

"The sun rises in the East Pond and sets in the West Pond."

Meibei Lake is a large lake, 14 miles in circumference, with unfathomable depths. Under the drizzle, the green slopes are like dark green, the water surface is vast, and the water chestnuts and lotus flowers are in full bloom. When Du Fu was frustrated in "Ten Years in Chang'an", he often came to Meibei Lake to fish and relax. Cen Shen flirted with girls here, and Wei Zhuang, who wrote "The woman beside the wine shop is like the moon, and her white wrists are covered with frost and snow", strolled alone by the lake to look for flowers and dispel his sorrow after failing the imperial examination.

The most beautiful landscape in Guanzhong is Meibei Lake.

"Wow!" A group of egrets dived into the marsh and picked up the struggling fish with their long beaks. Just as they were about to land on the shore to enjoy it, they caught a glimpse of something in the jungle and instantly flapped its wings and flew into the sky.

"Squeak..." The fox squatting in the bushes looked for a while, then walked away in despair. Hunting was too difficult. For some reason, many fat rabbits in the vicinity disappeared in the past few days. They seemed to have hidden themselves, so it had to eat several meals of snakes, hedgehogs, and mice. It wanted to ambush the delicious birds to eat meat, but unfortunately it was exposed.

Suddenly, the wild fox stopped and pricked up its ears, as if listening to something, while looking around with its small eyes - a faint rumbling sound came from the ground!

"Bang!" With a few quick steps, the wild fox jumped onto a dense cypress tree, not daring to move.

Not long.

A group of "big monkeys" rode past the lake on horseback, then picked up crossbows and shot the golden monkeys that were clinging to the vines and making a lot of noise.

Two unlucky golden monkeys were shot by arrows and were caught in mid-air by the "big monkey" who rushed under the tree and thrown into the swamp.

"Che!" There was a whip sound and a sudden shout.

Boom, boom, boom, the ground immediately shook and trembled, and dense crowds of people and horses rushed out from the thin rain and mist, their bodies filled with the pungent smell of blood and sweat. The branches rustled, and birds and beasts fled, running into the depths of the dense forest without looking back.

"Go up the west slope!"

The cavalry slowly slowed down and rushed to Shatunpo on the west side of Meibei Lake - from here, they could overlook the Qi bandits' cavalry.

11000 infantry battalions of the Yingwu Army, Congzhi Army, and Yicong Army have lined up in Tianjing Village, which is a vast plain north of the Suyubi Hills in Huyi, and the only way for the Qi people to invade the east. More than elite soldiers are led by Wang Congxun, the instructor of the Imperial Guards Infantry Division, and they rely on Tianjing Village as a passage for the thieves.

As for the saint, he and Zhang Jide, the left wing commander of the Longjie Army, and others led the main force of the cavalry to detour to Mibei Lake to scout the enemy situation.

The 6000 knights of the Longjie Army were wearing armor and holding lances. They had horse bows, but each person only had less than ten arrows. The heavy cavalry that was popular at the time - the infantry was not very good at lances, the ranks were chaotic, and the soldiers were weak in will, so they were just waiting to be kicked in the face!

The 1100 Shatuo cavalrymen of Longxingdu, commanded by Helian Weihuan and Kang Lingzhong, inherited the military style of the Daibei people - why bother to fight with strength when I can easily kill you? In this raid, seeing that there were already heavy cavalrymen of the Longjie Army, Helian Weihuan gave up the bulky horse lance and carried a short gun, a horse bow, and a pair of swords. There were relatively more arrows, and some cavalrymen with good archery skills and endurance brought thirty arrows. Their fighting style can be seen from their equipment - harass from a distance, fight quickly in close combat, and disgust you.

As soon as you line up, they retreat; as soon as you move, they come again - isn't it like a hawk teasing a chick?
The 1500 leopard riders under the command of Xiao and Fu Cunshen were quite mixed, some holding axes, some using large swords, some holding hook sickle spears, some wielding iron bone flowers, some wielding maces...

Flower team!

Working under the Crow King, they have been fighting with Chengde, Youzhou, Weizhou, Xuanwu and other towns for many years, and the professional skills of the warriors are very diverse.

The above are the 8600 cavalrymen from the Longjie, Longxing and Baozi armies.

"Whoa...!" The saint pulled the reins and the horse stopped under a peach tree. He was surrounded by his brother-in-law He Chuyu and dozens of other military officers.

The saint looked down the mountain and saw an endless stream of camels, draft horses, mules and donkeys carrying carts, food and weapons, slowly advancing along the road in the hazy drizzle under the dome. The food, fodder, weapons and looted goods were all here. The team was extremely long, with so many carts and horses that it stretched into the fog that was too far to see clearly. It was visually terrifying.

A large group of infantry and cavalry in various colors of armor escorted the cavalry, and the number seemed to exceed 10,000, but they stopped there - if they wanted to defeat the king's army blocking the road in Tianjing Village, they would not leave too many soldiers to take care of their butts. Baggage is extremely important, but if they all come to guard the money, will they still fight a frontal battle?

"The army is in chaos but the system is not, what a thief." Helian Weihuan cursed, quite surprised. He had seen many chaotic armies, but this was the first time he had seen such a weirdo like the Qi people. It really opened his eyes - if you want to rebel, just send your whole army, and you still need money and goods after winning the battle?

"The Qi people are greedy for money." Fu Cunshen came to a conclusion. In his opinion, it is a taboo in field battles to send out all the soldiers to defeat the enemy head-on, but to divide the soldiers to protect the baggage. If they win head-on, no one can take away the baggage. If they lose, it would be strange to want to keep the money and goods.

Normal people can understand this truth, and Qi people will not fail to think of it. Being so willful and valuing profit to this extent... is the sign of a defeated army!
The saint clenched his fists, his face flushed a little - this was the first time he saw tens of thousands of troops marching in a row, the impact was quite strong. This was still tens of thousands of people, if it was 100,000, 200,000, 500,000... If you imagine it more deeply, if it was a melee of more than 100,000 people, it would be even more shocking. In this environment, no matter how honest a person is, he would probably burst out with animality.

"The chaotic army is assembling itself." He Chuyu came up and glanced at the chaotic cavalry at the foot of the mountain. He seemed to be reminding the generals and said, "The scouts must have sensed danger after being caught and driven away by the net. We can take advantage of their unstable foothold and launch a surprise attack on them."

"The wheels are in good order, the men and horses are in order, but there is no battle formation... these slave dogs are suffering, haha." Helian Weihuan squinted his eyes and watched for a while, then laughed: "If we continue to move forward, we are afraid of being attacked on the way. If we don't move forward, we will be delayed again. It's really hard to get off the tiger! If it were me, I would just throw away the wealth and goods and send the whole army forward."

"Your Majesty, wait a little longer until Master Qi lets down his guard." Looking at the Saint's flushed face and chattering teeth due to excitement, Fu Cunshen was worried that the Saint might be impulsive, so he reminded him.

"I know." The saint calmed down and ordered: "Give the whole army water and food to replenish their strength."

So the soldiers took out their dry food and ate it quickly while sitting on their horses, and at the same time took out beans from their bags to feed their horses. They were going to charge soon, so they had to be well fed at all times.

The saint also grabbed a handful of soybeans and fed them into his mouth.

……

After walking for four days, Li Zan, the commander of the Yanei Tiefu Army, was very tired and yawned several times while covering his mouth. He didn't want to come to Chang'an and didn't want to be the target of public criticism. He just wanted his family to be safe and live a life of enjoying flowers and snow. Unfortunately, the soldiers didn't listen to their advice - they abolished him as the governor and appointed another governor. Seeing that the general trend could not be violated, he asked to escort the army's baggage and got this good job.

He dawdled all the way, moving slowly at the end of the convoy, just waiting for news of defeat from the front so that he could turn his horse around and rush back to Fengxiang - he didn't care about the life or death of the army, and he wouldn't feel sorry if these evil beasts were all killed, and he would even applaud and praise them.

Glancing at the joyous soldiers, Li Zan put on a kind smile.

"Pa!" A cavalryman passed by and saw his appearance. He raised his hand and whipped him in the face: "How could our Fengxiang produce a coward like you?" The soldiers burst into laughter.

Li Zan covered his face and stood there with his head lowered.

A dignified town commander was slapped and insulted by a small-headed soldier in public... His nose felt sore and tears of grievance were about to flow. Fortunately, he knew that this would only lead to more ridicule, so he just gritted his teeth and endured it.

"What are you still standing there for? Give the order!" Seeing that Li Zan didn't say anything, the cavalryman became even more furious, and whipped him twice on the head: "The scouts who were sent out haven't come back yet. I'm afraid that the royal army will attack halfway. You are doing nothing. Do you want to kill everyone?"

"Pass the order..." Li Zan made arrangements with a hoarse voice.

"If you dare to delay again, I will kill you." The cavalryman pushed him away, said a few threatening words, and walked away.

Although there were some vigilant warriors like the cavalry, most of the soldiers were in a relaxed state of mind. They had enjoyed themselves with Li Maozhen in the suburbs of Beijing a few years ago and had seen the incompetence of the Shen Ce Army. They ran to the Gwanghwamun Gate to shoot arrows at the saint, but did not dare to come out to fight. A bunch of rats!
This time, everyone has reached Meibei Lake, only fifty miles away from Chang'an. However, there is only a part of the royal army in Tianjing Village ahead to stop them, which shows that the Shence Army is still in a weak state.

After the main force went to Tianjing Village to fight, everyone relaxed and waited for the victory report. As for whether the scout had returned, that was not something for everyone to worry about. Maybe he was in a hurry to get to the village to eat, or maybe he was tired and fell asleep somewhere, or maybe he was killed - everyone was not a military governor, a military governor, or a military commander, so don't worry about your superiors.

As for the attack from the king's army halfway, if they come, then we can fight with the chariots. No one is a rookie, so what is there to be afraid of? If they don't come, then we can rest, lead the cavalry and walk slowly. When we reach the outskirts of Beijing, we will have the energy to work.

Some shook their raincoats, some patted their hair. Many warriors took off their armor and climbed onto the carts to lie down, crossing their legs and humming. Some people stripped naked and found dry clothes to change into - it was raining, so they were more or less wet, so they had to keep warm and not catch a cold.

When the officers saw this, some reminded them not to take off their armor and to be on guard against the enemy; the prestigious ones shouted and quarreled with the killers.

Most chose to play dead.

If we win, we can go to the capital together. If we lose, we can escape on our own.

At the end of noon, the drizzle became heavier and heavier, and the soldiers found their raincoats and put them on. With such a muddy road and such bad weather, the Shen Ce Army would be crazy to come out and die - hehe, they were far away in Qishan and had no idea that the Shen Ce Army had been disbanded.

Li Zan sat alone on a large rock, his hands hugging his knees. His hat covered half of his red face, and he stared blankly at the hillside in the rain and fog not far away.

They were looking forward to their own people winning the battle in Tianjing Village so as to satisfy the desires of the common people.

And longed for the emperor to punish the criminals...

But the imperial court would not dare to do that to the good-for-nothings in the Shen Ce Army.

Will the royal army... come? Will they come to save these loyal ministers who are suffering in dire straits?

Ugh.

"Captain!" Deputy General Yu Duozuo came running over with his short legs, pointed at the high hills in the northeast and whispered, "Look."

Li Zan folded his hands over his eyes and looked, only to see that the birds on the hill suddenly flew away in fright, and a team of cavalrymen with recognition flags on their backs rushed out of the woods - under the washing of rain, their armor looked brand new.

With his head covered in a tight helmet and a steel knife in his hand, he stood there motionless, looking down the mountain like a puppet.

"Scout?..." Li Zan tried to comfort himself, but the reason was too absurd and he couldn't accept it.

A patch of small trees was trampled flat, and dozens of riders emerged from the woods. They were also wearing armor, but this time, judging from their outlines, they were holding lances.

The eagle was frightened and flew high.

“Hiss…” Li Zan touched his chin and squinted his eyes: “One, two, three… twenty-one, twenty-two…”

Twenty-three, thirty-three...

He soon lost count. In just a dozen breaths, the hill was already full of cavalrymen, and their number was still increasing...

There must be several thousand of them, right?

"Captain..." Yu Duozuo swallowed his saliva, his mind went blank - whose cavalry were these? Were they the Xia people coming to defend the king, or were they the Jing, Pu, Shan, and Jin towns?

Don’t wait to think too much.

The cavalrymen began to move in batches and in an orderly manner, like a surging mountain torrent.

"Here they come!" Yu Duozuo screamed and pulled Li Zan's arm and walked away.

"Are you confused?" Li Zan patted his brother's face and whispered, "There are so many cavalrymen, at least several thousand. Where can you run to survive? Quick, go and lead the way for the king's division."

"I've had enough of them!" Li Zan touched his face which was still stinging and burning, and said through gritted teeth.

"Okay, okay." Yu Duozuo shook Li Zan's hand, took a detour and disappeared in the already noisy and noisy crowd.

(End of this chapter)