A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 444 The City of the Recluses

The wind howls.
Qin Qiong turned his horse around and regrouped his cavalry.

Looking out over the center of the battlefield, one sees vehicles forming a camp, and the Liu-character general's flag fluttering in the wind.

"I never imagined Liu Heita possessed such abilities."

Cheng Yaojin, panting heavily, wiped away his sweat. After fighting for half a day in July, the inside of his armor was unbearably hot. "Back in Wagang, I never saw this kid with such skills."

Although Liu Heita was a fellow townsman of Dou Jiande, he first joined Hao Xiaode in his early years before following him to Wagang. However, Liu Heita was not valued by Li Mi while in Wagang and was only a minor officer. At that time, Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin were the four generals of Li Mi's most elite cavalry.

The four great generals of that time were Qin Shubao, Luo Shixin, Pei Xingyan, and Cheng Yaojin.

Qin Qiong and his men, who were in Wagang before, didn't even know that Liu Heita was such a person.

After Li Mi's defeat, Liu Heita also surrendered to Wang Shichong and was appointed as a cavalry general to guard Xinxiang. Later, Li Shiji was defeated and surrendered to Dou Jiande, capturing Xinxiang for Dou Jiande and taking Liu Heita prisoner. Liu Heita then submitted to his former sworn brother Dou Jiande and gradually rose to prominence in the Hebei army, earning the nickname "Swift General" and being granted the title of Duke of Handong.

Zhai Changsun urged his horse forward.
"If we had known that Liu Heita was capable, we wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble."

Qin Qiong watched as the banner bearing the character "Liu" fluttered, and the Xia army's front and rear armies had already assembled and were pressing towards them.

"Yes, we'll charge two more times as planned, then retreat towards the Zhanghe River."

With Liu Heita's abilities, there's no need for acting. The central army failed to completely defeat them, and now the front and rear armies have surrounded them. Five thousand cavalry can no longer defeat these thirty thousand men.

Five thousand Tang cavalrymen broke through the enemy lines, regrouped, and then charged again into the still chaotic central army.

Liu Heita stood in the wagon camp, watching his central army of over ten thousand men being repeatedly attacked, divided, surrounded, and assaulted by Tang cavalry.
My eyes are bloodshot!

Qin Shubao, Cheng Yaojin, Zhai Changsun, and Duan Zhixuan—two of them were from Wagang, where he was just a lowly henchman, while Qin Shubao and Cheng Yaojin were renowned throughout the Central Plains.

Qin Shubao and Luo Shixin, in particular, had followed Zhang Xutuo and defeated many rebel armies. He had followed Hao Xiaode back then, but was defeated by Zhang Xutuo, and only later did he join Wagang.

In Wagang, Liu Heita was just a junior officer, and he always had to look up to the hero, Brother Qin.

Unexpectedly, several years later, they are able to face off here.

Good heavens, Brother Qin! Five thousand cavalrymen have managed to rout our thirty thousand men in such a sorry state.

"The front and rear armies gather together,"

"Kill them."

Liu Heita shouted.

Tang cavalry roared and swept across the land.

Liu Heita stared intently at the banners, and just as he was about to surround them, Tang cavalry suddenly burst out from the gap in the encirclement and ran towards the Zhang River.

"They're scared, they want to escape,"

Liu Heita roared, "Don't let them escape! Go after them and drive them down into the Zhang River!"

He jumped off the ladder truck.

Mounting his warhorse, he left the ragged central army to his men to regroup and charged to the front lines of Wang Xiaohu's army. "Follow me, catch up with the Tang cavalry. They are exhausted and can't charge any further. Don't let them get away."

Halfway through the march, five thousand Tang cavalry suddenly attacked and fought for half a day. Liu Heita was both ashamed and angry, and eager to take revenge.

He even wanted to annihilate the five thousand Tang cavalry and capture Qin Shubao and Cheng Yaojin.

The Xia army in Hebei was quite elite.
Even after such an attack,

They still managed to hold their ground and dared to pursue.

Liu Heita mobilized about two thousand cavalrymen, relentlessly pursuing the Tang cavalry, with infantry and cavalry following closely behind.

Qin Qiong and his men retreated towards the Zhanghe River embankment.

Ten thousand Tang Dynasty infantrymen lay in ambush in that vast expanse of reeds.

A swift horse galloped over.
He reported the military situation to Liu Hongji and Li Shiji, saying that the Xia army had been lured there.

Liu Hongji excitedly drew his knife.

In the sweltering summer heat,

The afternoon was hot and humid with no wind.

The thunderous sound of hooves echoed as several thousand Tang cavalry charged past, followed by two thousand Xia cavalry. Liu Hongji and his men were already fully armored and armed.

Let these cavalrymen go.

After waiting for a while, the Xia army's follow-up infantry and cavalry caught up like a tide.

"Now,"

"Attack the enemy from the flank!"

Liu Hongji shouted, and flags were raised one after another. Horns sounded, and ten thousand armored soldiers rushed out of the reeds and charged toward the Xia army that was passing by a mile away.

Army attack.

"Smoke!"

Three plumes of smoke rose on the battlefield.

This was the agreed-upon signal: after the infantry launched their attack, they would release smoke, and Qin Qiong and his men would turn around and fight.

The ancient city of Lie Ren

Although the county had been abolished long ago, many people still lived in this town. They never expected that such a great battle would take place outside this small, old county town.

First, a large army passed through, then a cavalry raid, and now an infantry force has emerged.
West of Lie Ren City, on the bank of the Zhang River,
Nearly 50,000 troops were fighting.

The city walls were packed with people, all watching the great battle.

Standing atop the city wall, one could clearly see countless armored soldiers suddenly emerge from the reeds below the riverbank, attacking the Xia army infantry and cavalry who were fiercely pursuing the Tang cavalry from the side.
He was stabbed in the waist.

On one side were ten thousand elite armored soldiers, rested and ready to fight; on the other side was the Xia army, which had just suffered a heavy defeat in an attack and had been running and chasing for a long time under the scorching summer sun.
Caught off guard, Xia's army was thrown into chaos.

Qin Qiong gazed at the smoke,
Shouting and leading his troops to turn around, he pounced on Liu Heita's two thousand cavalry, who had fallen far behind the rest of the army due to their hasty pursuit.

Two cavalry units clashed on the plain.

The soldiers and civilians on the city walls were completely mesmerized; such a grand spectacle might only happen once in a lifetime.

Cavalry flanking maneuvers, infantry advancing sideways.
Despite being caught off guard by their numerical superiority, the Xia army withstood this thunderous blow. Their vanguard was scattered, but reinforcements rushed in from behind, and the remaining scattered Xia troops quickly regrouped. Forty-five thousand men fought fiercely outside Lieren City.

They fought from dawn until noon, and from noon until dusk.

Liu Heita was struck by an arrow and fell from his horse, rolling on the ground. His personal guards rushed over, raising their shields to block several arrows for him.
One of his guards gave him his own horse.

"General, let's retreat, we've lost."

This was an extremely fierce battle that lasted all day. Both sides were exhausted, and the casualties were very heavy.

Although the Xia army had a numerical advantage, twice that of the Tang army, it was ambushed twice. The Tang army, with its elite infantry and cavalry, managed to make up for its numerical disadvantage.

Liu Heita looked around.
As the sun sets in the west, the crimson clouds in the western sky burn like fire, illuminating half the horizon.

The setting sun was like blood.

The 30,000 Xia troops had already been routed. Liu Heita had earned the reputation of a lightning-fast general in recent years by quickly maneuvering and being good at fast attacks. It was already quite remarkable that he had been able to hold out until now in this battle.

Looking at the battlefield, the Tang cavalry were protected by the flanks of the Tang infantry, who continued to advance, while the Xia army had scattered and could no longer form a battle formation.

This battle cannot be fought.

Today, Xia Jun's army was scattered seven times, but it was Liu Heita who ran around repeatedly to regroup the troops and put them back into formation.

But in the end, they still lost.

"General, let's retreat quickly. If we continue fighting, the entire army will be wiped out."

Unwilling, helpless
In the end, all that can be done is a long sigh.

"Blow the horn, retreat!"

The defeated troops retreated to Feixiang.

When the bugle call to retreat sounded, Liu Heita was utterly defeated in this battle. Countless desperate Xia soldiers finally regained some spirits, like drowning people seeing a straw.

No one resisted anymore.

The entire army fled south.

As dusk fell,
The people who had gathered on the city walls were so engrossed in watching that they forgot to eat. They watched as their Xia army suffered a crushing defeat, with countless soldiers fleeing south.

The Tang army, however, continued to pursue them relentlessly.

Fifteen thousand Tang soldiers defeated thirty thousand Xia soldiers.

Many people couldn't bear to give up their good viewing spots on the city wall, standing there from morning till dusk, ignoring the scorching sun and their hunger.

This great battle seemed to have nothing to do with them.

They were too busy watching the spectacle to pay attention.

When the battle ended and the sounds of fighting faded into the distance...

Many of the city's inhabitants rushed out of the city to the battlefield.

They went to sweep through the battlefield, searching for useful supplies, from the armor of fallen soldiers to the swords and spears lying on the ground, even arrows, and dead warhorses—they didn't want to let anything go.

But as soon as they rushed out, they saw Tang soldiers coming.

Not all Tang soldiers went in pursuit.

They still sent people to clean up the battlefield.
The cunning and calculating Li Shiji also set his sights on Lieren City.
Although the city wasn't large, taking it would still bring benefits. He deliberately withdrew his troops first to lure the city's inhabitants out to raid it.

When all the city's residents rush out in a chaotic frenzy to grab a bargain,
Li Shiji led a troop of light cavalry and, under the cover of night, rushed to the city walls. The city gates were not closed in time, and they stormed in.

Cut down a few who tried to resist.

They quickly captured the small town.

Li Shiji wiped his sweat. "These bastards have been watching our show all day."

"Lord Cao, once we take this city of Lie Ren, we won't have to go through the trouble of setting up camp and establishing fortifications anymore, and we won't have to worry about being ambushed by the Xia army again."

"Hmm, I can get a good night's sleep tonight. This Liu Heita is really quite capable. Our eight chief stewards beat him up, and he actually managed to withstand it for a whole day. Impressive. I never thought there was such a person in Wagang."

Several lieutenants accompanied him up to the city wall, but they all plopped down on the ground, not wanting to move an inch.

Although they were hungry, thirsty, tired, and hot,

But no one was in a hurry to remove their armor. First, the battle was not over yet, and second, they were all veteran soldiers who knew that they could not remove their armor at this time. Their bodies were not in a state of rest and sweating, and removing their armor could easily cause them to catch a cold, which could even be fatal.

Li Shiji was also extremely tired.
"Hurry up and have someone cook a meal and make hot soup. The brothers have been chopping people all day, and they are all hungry and thirsty."

They took over the defense of the city and cleaned up the battlefield outside the city.

Treating their own wounded,
They even sent troops to cut off the enemy's heads.
There are still many things to do after the war.
"Send more scouts. This place is very close to the Xia army camp in Feixiang. We don't want Dou Jiande to sneak over here without us even knowing."

"Who knows how many heads we'll take down today?"

"There must be at least three or four thousand decapitations."

"It's more than that. They've been playing all day. I estimate it must be four or five thousand."

"There will be no shortage of prisoners, probably at least ten thousand or even twenty thousand."

Four or five thousand were beheaded, and more than ten thousand were captured. Basically, Liu Heita's entire army was wiped out today.

However, the Tang army suffered heavy casualties during this day-long battle, with an estimated three to four thousand casualties.

"These Hebei troops are really tough. If it were any other enemy force, they would have collapsed by noon."

"That's right. Usually, if a 10% loss is suffered, many armies will collapse. But if a 20% or 30% loss is suffered, they can still continue fighting."

Li Shiji stroked the city wall with his hand, looking south towards Feixiang, where Dou Jiande still had nearly 100,000 troops.

If everyone were as tenacious as Liu Heita today,

We still have a tough battle ahead.

Thinking of his elderly father and brothers who were still being held captive by Dou Jiande, Li Shiji could not feel happy.

(End of this chapter)