Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 240 War

The black line from the northwest gradually spread outwards, moving faster and faster.

Enemy forces to the south and west gradually came into view.

A fierce wind whipped up the banners, causing them to flutter wildly.

"The Way!" Gao Xun shouted.

Liu Daogui said to Wang Zhi beside him, "It seems your brother doesn't care about your life or death."

Wang Zhi's gaze was complicated, but he still pretended to be stupid, "Why do you say that, Military Advisor?"

"Don't try to show off your limited skills in such a trivial way as feigning surrender."

“My troops have come to surrender with all our hearts… to join the army…” Wang Zhi looked like a wounded wolf, his eyes sharp as needles.

"Perhaps, it doesn't matter anymore." Liu Daogui smiled, and suddenly drew his long sword from his waist. With a flash of cold light, Wang Zhi's head flew off, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Only after the head hit the ground did a spray of blood spurt from the neck.

Upon seeing blood, the officers and soldiers around him were also infected with murderous intent, and their expressions gradually became solemn.

"What a fine sword!" Liu Daogui exclaimed, brandishing the precious sword, Xintinghou.

This knife was a gift from Liu Laozhi, and it is indeed extraordinary.

"Is it a real surrender or a fake surrender?" Liu Zun was completely baffled.

"What do you care if his surrender is genuine or feigned? Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts. I will not repeat the mistakes of Tianzhi. All troops, listen to my command: take advantage of Wang Yan's unpreparedness and annihilate him swiftly!"

"We accept the order!" the generals replied readily.

Having wasted some time, Wang Yan's troops had already reached within fifty paces of the camp. Their speed gradually slowed. "Open the camp! We'll intercept and kill the Yan bandits together!"

Boom, boom, boom...

War drums sounded from within the camp.

"Fire!" Gao Xun shouted from the front of the battle line, and countless arrows streaked across the sky, shooting towards the enemy army.

"What's this?"

"The Jin dogs have betrayed us and launched a sneak attack!"

The Hu army erupted in chaos, and a barrage of arrows rained down, felling many Hu soldiers. Some immediately turned to flee for their lives, but Mu Yuteng and Lan He's forces had already surrounded them.

The sound of horses' hooves rang out, long swords were raised, and heads fell like ripe melons.

"Liu Daogui, you little brat! I sincerely pledged my allegiance to you, why did you betray us and launch a sneak attack?" someone in the formation shouted.

Liu Daogui sneered, "If you were truly sincere in coming to surrender, you wouldn't have lured me across the Si River."

Those who truly want to surrender won't make so many demands.

So many tribes were able to leave the Yan army and return to the north, but he stayed behind. It was either a feigned surrender or he wanted to be the next Zhai Liao, taking advantage of the chaos to seize Yanzhou and establish himself as emperor.

It didn't matter to Liu Daogui, as he had never believed him from beginning to end.

The reason for crossing the Si River was to lure the Yan army into attacking.

Otherwise, if they were to remain holed up in the city, Liu Daogui's small force, lacking siege equipment, would find it difficult to breach the city. Although Xiaqiu, Rencheng, Yuancheng, and Gaoping were not particularly fortified, a strong attack would certainly result in the loss of all their possessions.

Moreover, it's unclear how long this major battle will drag on.

The other party fell silent, but suddenly burst into laughter, "Liu Daogui, you little brat, you have already crossed the Si River and set up camp with your back to the river. You will die without a burial place. If you fall into my hands, I will definitely skin you alive!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the enemy troops charged forward amidst a hail of arrows.

The raging war in the north had also instilled a fierce nature in the Hu people. With their own supervisory teams behind them, retreating meant certain death, so they charged forward with bloodshot eyes.

The iron cavalry charged wildly, and the Lanhe tribe from the south pounced on them like mad dogs.

Gao Xun's archers didn't have time to turn around, allowing the cavalry to rush within thirty paces and unleash a rain of arrows.

However, the Hu people's pride in their mounted archery was only so-so. On galloping warhorses, it was difficult to hit accurately, but it was still effective against unarmed civilians.

It is of little use against well-trained soldiers who are clad in armor and carry shields.

Two rounds of firing resulted in fewer than thirty casualties on our side. Apart from three people who were unfortunately shot in the face, the others suffered only minor flesh wounds.

With this fortified camp in place and backed by the Sishui River, cavalry raids from a flanking position were essentially useless.

The Yan army made a fatal mistake by allowing Liu Daogui to cross the Si River and set up camp on the north bank!
Wuwuwu——

The sound of horns rang out in the chaotic wind, followed by a tremor of the earth.

Enemy troops, numbering no less than 30,000, surged in from the west, north, and southwest like a tidal wave.

Mu Yu, Ping, and Lan all displayed their banners, and even the garrison in Xiaqiu City came out to fight.

"Hahaha, Liu Daogui, you've built your fortified position with your back to the river, you're doomed!" Wang Yan laughed loudly in the enemy army, firmly protected by three shields.

"Then today I'll show you who dies first!"

Liu Daogui remained completely calm.

With fortified camps in place, the Yan army's cavalry advantage was essentially nullified.

The soldiers stood motionless behind the earthen ramparts, holding their long spears.

The officers calmly issued various orders, and the supervising officers and commanders reassured the soldiers. The Central Army and the Eight Banners had fought so many battles with him that they were already used to it.

Liu Daogui also did not believe that all 30,000 troops were elite Yan soldiers.

The elite troops of Yan followed Murong Bao to attack Tuoba Gui.

Layer upon layer of enemy troops, shields raised, surged forward like a tidal wave, their battle cries deafening.

Arrows rained down, almost obscuring the dark clouds in the sky.

Soon, the enemy troops rushed to the camp, their long spears interlocking like canine teeth, resembling a gaping maw, tearing flesh and blood apart!
Our side has fences and earthen ramparts as barriers, giving us a commanding position.

Most of those who fell were enemy soldiers.

But the ferocity of these Yan soldiers was also aroused, and they charged forward recklessly, causing the palisade to creak and groan.

Suddenly, countless lassos were thrown from the enemy ranks. Some snagged the fence, others the soldiers. Several warhorses neighed, the fence was ripped up by a tremendous force, and the soldiers in the lassos were dragged away and impaled by the enemy's spears...

The stench of blood grew stronger.

The bodies on the ground were quickly level with the earthen mound.

Meanwhile, the enemy army continued its overwhelming advance.

Liu Daogui frowned. The enemy's commander must be a madman, risking his life.

Even the most notorious bandits back then weren't this crazy.

The Hu people's bloodlust and ferocity were fully revealed. As the enemy soldiers in front fell, the enemy soldiers behind them stripped off their armor, covered themselves in blood, and continued to charge.

However, the soldiers were no less capable.

The soldiers of Bazhuang and Zhenglu Zhongbing did not retreat an inch and fought to the death with the enemy. Even the slaves were like mad tigers, their blood boiling, and they jumped into the enemy ranks with short axes and long knives.

Before being hacked to pieces, he fought valiantly and killed an enemy soldier...

Killing one enemy soldier earns three hundred coins or five liters of grain. Those who perform meritorious service are rewarded. After dying in battle, their offspring and family members can inherit the reward and be freed from slavery, becoming civilians.

Without worries about the future, they dare to fight to the death.

Behind them lay the winding Sishui River; there was no way out but to fight desperately.

Whether slaves or able-bodied men, everyone was fearless and undaunted by death.

The enemy troops fell one by one. Even those brave soldiers who managed to scale the earthen ramparts were quickly overwhelmed and killed by the combined efforts of the soldiers within the camp.

After two hours of fierce fighting, the camp remained standing.

With his elder brother Liu Yu in the Three Wu regions, Liu Daogui held off tens of thousands of bandits with less than a thousand men. It was no problem for him to face 30,000 second-rate Yan troops.

"The enemy is exhausted, we can launch a cavalry raid!" Tan Daoji, his face covered in blood, ran over to remind them. Liu Daogui's gaze shifted from the battlefield to the north, where the sky and earth grew increasingly gloomy. The tribes of Mu Yuteng, Lan He, and Ping You were all fighting fiercely in the battle, but Murong Zhou's banner did not appear on the battlefield.

Moreover, on the main battlefield, although the soldiers were exhausted, they were still able to cope. The enemy launched fierce attacks time and time again, but they were all pushed back, leaving behind a field of corpses.

"The time is not yet ripe," Liu Daogui said calmly.

The enemy forces couldn't break through no matter what they tried, but for some reason they refused to retreat and rest, and just kept at it.

The soldiers on both sides were exhausted.

"Cavalry! Another cavalry force from the Suolu has arrived!" The scout on the watchtower pointed north.

Liu Daogui stood on the camp and looked north, where he saw a cavalry force of about three thousand slowly heading towards the battlefield.

"So what if they're cavalry? They're just coming to their deaths!" Liu Zun scoffed.

But Liu Daogui frowned, realizing that this cavalry was different. The sunlight shining through the gaps in the dark clouds shone on them, and the four or five hundred riders in front reflected the luster of raw iron.

Everyone held a long spear that was about two zhang long.

"It's armored cavalry!"

The scout on the watchtower shouted.

Armored cavalry is a tradition of the Yan army. Forty years ago, in the Battle of Liantai, Ran Min's 10,000 infantry and cavalry faced Murong Ke's 100,000 Yan troops and won ten battles in a row. However, in the eleventh battle, they were defeated by Murong Ke's iron-clad linked cavalry.

After the Yongjia Rebellion, the status of heavy cavalry, whose riders and horses were all clad in iron armor, continued to rise, and both the Later Zhao and Former Yan dynasties equipped them on a large scale.

The Yan state occupied Hebei, so naturally it had plenty of such powerful weapons for the plains battlefield.

Although there were only four or five hundred riders, they were like iron beasts, and when they ran, the earth shook.

The Yan infantrymen who could not avoid the collision were either knocked over or trampled to death.

A murderous aura soared into the sky and filled the surrounding area.

That kind of psychological shock can only be felt by experiencing it firsthand.

The soldiers had been fighting fiercely for more than two hours and were already exhausted. Facing the invincible armored cavalry, they felt powerless.

"Ho, ho, ho..."

The Hu people cheered him on, and his previously low morale soared instantly.

The soldiers at the front all turned around and looked at Liu Daogui.

"So that's what they were waiting for." Liu Daogui took out a spear and stood on the earthen mound. Xu Changming, Gou Zhong, and Meng Ganzhi led five hundred retainers to follow, along with more than fifty Tiger Warriors, carrying long-handled axes and spears.

But at this moment, another force emerged from the southwest, consisting of about a thousand armored soldiers, forming two arrowheads that slowly advanced towards the camp.

The Yan army immediately erupted in cheers.

The combined strength of the two sides was only about four thousand, but their morale was even more terrifying than that of the tens of thousands of Yan troops who had just fought fiercely.

"How could there be two Murongs?" Even a simpleton like Liu Zun was shocked.

The one to the south is undoubtedly Murong Zhou, so who is this armored cavalry force to the north?
“It’s Murong Shao! This guy didn’t leave at all. He’s Murong Ke’s son, so naturally he wouldn’t forget about the armor!” Liu Daogui said calmly.

The more critical the situation, the less you should panic.

From the very beginning, with Yan cavalry intercepting and killing scouts everywhere, Liu Daogui guessed that Murong Shao had not left.

It was all a deliberate attempt to create a false impression.

That's precisely the time to launch the final blow.

"Reinforcements! Our reinforcements have arrived!" A cheer came from the watchtower.

Liu Daogui looked back at the Sishui River. One after another, warships broke through the water mist and slowly sailed in, with the "Liu" banners hanging on the bows of the ships being particularly eye-catching.

The sound of war drums drifted from afar, each beat so stirring and inspiring.

"You've come at the perfect time!" Liu Daogui laughed heartily.

As expected of Liu Zhong, he seized the opportunity perfectly, neither too early nor too late, just in time to suppress the enemy's arrogance.

The battlefield stretched along the riverbank in a straight line, with arrows raining down on the Yan army to the southwest.

The arrows fired from the warships were different from those fired by the infantry; many were heavy crossbows or repeating crossbows, which had a long range and great power. The enemy troops had just gone through a bloody battle and were exhausted, so they were huddled together with no way to avoid the attack.

Even Murong Zhou's thousand armored soldiers were exposed to the rain of arrows.

Their armor was like paper under the heavy crossbow fire, and two or three of them were often pinned to the ground, emitting mournful cries.

Although most of them missed their targets, their terrifying power sent chills down everyone's spines.

They had to retreat to avoid the rain of arrows falling on the river.

Even for elite troops, changing formations is not an easy task in a battle.

The Yan army was known for its cavalry, but its infantry was rather ordinary.

As they retreated, they pushed and shoved each other, and their formation immediately became chaotic.

The war drums grew more and more rousing, and the warships docked directly at the shore. The young men of the Three Wu regions leaped ashore like fish, all shirtless, carrying shields in one hand and short axes, heavy halberds, and iron spikes in the other, charging like a pack of wolves towards the retreating Yan infantry.

"kill!"

His fierce and imposing manner even impressed Liu Daogui.

In the ensuing close combat, chaos reigned, and blood and flesh flew everywhere. A large number of Yan soldiers immediately fell...

"How magnificent!" Liu Daogui laughed.

Inspired by the passion and heroism of these young men from the Wu region, he gripped his spear tightly, planted the butt of it on the ground, and aimed the blade at the armored cavalry charging over the corpses.

Cold light flickered.

But it wasn't just Liu Daogui who was fired up; other soldiers were too.

Before the armored cavalry could charge forward, the able-bodied men on the left and right flanks, carrying long spears, charged down on their own initiative.

This move was somewhat reckless; however, they attacked the armored cavalry's flank, not their front.

Puff puff……

One after another, long spears were broken by the shockwave, and one after another, hot-blooded men were knocked away or killed by armored cavalry.

However, this move also slowed down and disrupted the armored cavalry's momentum and rhythm.

"Join the army, for the Northern Expedition!"

"I hope you will join the army and take care of my son!"

The able-bodied men charged forward relentlessly, their flesh and blood crashing into the iron beasts of the Yan army...

"Drive out the barbarians and recover our rivers and mountains—"

The able-bodied men shouted loudly.

Then everyone in the camp joined in the shouting...

A few drops of blood splattered on Liu Daogui's face, still warm, and it felt as if he had been stabbed in the heart.

These people are actually willing to risk their lives for a hollow slogan.

This land has never lacked passionate men and loyal heroes throughout history!
From then on, "Expel the barbarians and restore our land" was no longer just a slogan...

No matter how formidable the Yan army's iron cavalry was, it could not withstand such an attack. After all, there were only four or five hundred riders. Once their speed and momentum were slowed down, they could not maneuver freely and were caught in a dilemma.

Liu Daogui charged out with his spear in hand, uttering four words: "Drive out the barbarians!"

"kill!"

The thunderous sound of hooves echoed as Mao Dezhu and Wang Zhongde's cavalry leaped out.

Generals Liu Zun, Tan Daoji, and Zhou Zheng led their troops out of the camp and rushed towards the dumbfounded enemy.

(End of this chapter)