Late Tang Dynasty: Descendants of the Imperial Clan

But then Li Cenji changed the subject, addressing the generals behind him:

"But! If we kill them all today, which traitorous general will dare to abandon the darkness and join the light in the future? Which rebel soldier will dare to lay down his weapons? Are we to kill all of Huang Chao's hundreds of thousands of troops one by one?"

Upon hearing this, the generals exchanged bewildered glances.

Xu Tai opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but then felt that it was difficult to refute what he said.

Although he was a reckless man, he knew that the court was in dire need of talent at the moment. If he really killed those who surrendered, who would dare to come and submit to him in the future?

Seeing that everyone had fallen silent, Li Cenji turned around and said to the guards:

"I will not pursue your betrayal, but as for how to deal with you, it is up to Lord Zheng to decide."

The soldiers, as if granted a pardon, kowtowed in gratitude, their foreheads already a bloody mess, yet they were completely unaware of it.

Li Cenji stopped looking at them and casually tossed Lin Yan's head back to Meng Laozu's feet.

The head rolled half a circle on the ground, covered in yellow dust, and came to rest in front of Old Meng's knees.

"Remove all the armor and weapons and pile them up by the roadside."

Li Cenji gave the order, then pointed to two cavalrymen.

"You two, escort them back to the main camp. Take this head with you and report the whole story to Lord Zheng. Remember, let Lord Zheng decide."

The two cavalrymen clasped their hands in agreement.

Li Cenji turned and walked away, but after taking two steps, he stopped.

He glanced back at the dust-covered head on the ground. The setting sun shone through the branches of the locust tree, casting dappled shadows on Lin Yan's unseeing face.

He suddenly remembered Lin Yan's identity, in the original historical trajectory:

In the fourth year of the Zhonghe era, Huang Chao was defeated at Langhu Valley in Mount Tai. It was this Lin Yan, Huang Chao's own nephew, who, in a desperate situation, killed Huang Chao and his brothers, wife, and sons, carrying these heads to surrender to the Tang army. What happened? On the way, he encountered the Shatuo cavalry of Li Keyong from Taiyuan. Seeing this traitorous nephew seeking personal gain, the Shatuo soldiers killed him without a word, taking all the heads from his hands, and giving all the credit to others.

This is the fate of those who betray the Lord.

Li Cenji still remembers that when he read that passage, all he could think of were the four words "cause and effect, retribution".

But now, witnessing Lin Yan betrayed and killed by the roadside before his time, the emotions he felt at that moment were many times more complex than when he was in school.

The river of history eventually took a turn.

Lin Yan, who was supposed to betray Huang Chao four years later, died prematurely at the hands of his own soldiers.

And Li Cenji, a person who shouldn't have appeared in this part of history, is now standing under this old locust tree, witnessing all of this with his own eyes.

Was it my own butterfly flapping its wings that caused this, or was it some kind of divine retribution?

Li Cenji had no answer.

He turned his gaze away, walked to the yellow horse, and reached out to touch the horse's wet nose.

The yellow horse snorted and nudged his palm with its nose.

The horse, carrying him through a fierce charge, was still breathing rapidly, but much more steadily than before. Its hooves were pawing the ground intermittently, as if it still had energy to spare.

Li Cenji patted the horse's neck, swung his spear horizontally, and the bloodstains on the spearhead had congealed into a dark red, gleaming faintly in the setting sun.

He looked into the distance and saw the rebel soldiers fleeing eastward like locusts on the official road, abandoning their armor and weapons, their flags askew.

The central banner of Shangrang, which was still in the distance, had begun to move eastward, clearly indicating that he was going to sacrifice the pawn to save the king.

Meanwhile, due to Li Cenji's stay, the three thousand cavalrymen, now all spearheaded by Li Changyan, continued their pursuit of the rebel army's main camp without making any stops.

Once the cavalry stopped and lost their momentum, they were like tigers without claws, easily overwhelmed by the rebel infantry.

"Chase."

Li Cenji uttered only this one word, then slammed his knees against the horse's belly. The yellow horse neighed loudly and galloped off after the fleeing soldiers.

Behind him, Zhou Ping, Xu Tai, Wu Kang, and other generals responded with a resounding roar, leading their respective personal guards to whip their horses and spur them on. The thunderous sound of their hooves shook the withered grass on both sides of the official road, and the dust they kicked up blotted out the sky.

The two cavalrymen who were ordered to escort the surrendered soldiers back were now urging the thirty or fifty armored soldiers to head towards Longweibei.

The old soldier Meng, who was in the lead, held Lin Yan's head in his hands. He was shirtless and shivering in the chilly spring air.

He glanced back at the billowing dust drifting eastward, then looked down at the unseeing head in his hand, lost in thought.

The wind blew down from the direction of Qishan, making the withered branches of the old locust tree creak. The headless corpse lay lying in a pool of blood beneath the tree, ignored by everyone.

Several crows flew in from a distance, landed on the branches, tilted their heads to examine the corpse on the ground, and let out a few rough cries.

……

Meanwhile, Shang Rang stood on the mound and saw the defeated soldiers on the high ridge of Longweipi retreating like a tide. He knew in his heart that the situation was hopeless.

The routed soldiers, their helmets and armor discarded and banners toppled, were filled with terror. They shouted things like "The Tang army is coming!" and "We can't hold them off!" as they swarmed towards their own lines like headless flies.

The infantry at the front were already struggling to hold on against the fierce attacks of Li Xiaochang and Tuoba Sigong's ambushes on the south side. Now, when this group of defeated soldiers rammed into their midsection, their formation immediately fell into disarray.

"No refunds! No refunds allowed!"

Xu Jian, the commander of the vanguard, brandished his sword and roared at the front of the battle. He personally beheaded two of the fastest fleeing soldiers, but how could he stop the rout?

The routed soldiers had long lost their courage and no longer cared about military orders; they only cared about fleeing desperately.

Xu Jian was swept along by the fleeing soldiers, retreating a hundred paces with his horse. He cursed angrily, but there was nothing he could do.

Shang Rang witnessed all of this, his face turning ashen.

Liu Hong, who was standing next to him, leaned closer and whispered:

"Grand Commandant, the front lines are likely doomed. If we wait for the Tang army's ambush to close in, we'll be trapped like turtles in a jar. We should take advantage of the remaining escape route and quickly retreat to Mei County to devise a plan."

Shang Rang was well aware of this principle.

He gritted his teeth and said sharply:

"Pass down the order: I will lead my officers and soldiers to retreat first, and order Xu Jian to lead the vanguard to cover the rear and hold off the Tang army's ambush. Tell him that he only needs to hold out for half an hour, and I will regroup my troops to support him from behind."

Liu Hong was taken aback, thinking that these words sounded nice, but in reality, they were treating Xu Jian and the vanguard as expendable pawns.

But he was Shang Rang's confidant, so he naturally wouldn't reveal it. He simply responded and sent a messenger on horseback to report.

Shang Rang glanced again at the two banners still fluttering in the wind on the high hill of Longweipo, feeling both hatred and regret.

What I hate is that Zheng Tian, ​​that old scoundrel, laid such a vicious trap; what I regret is that I underestimated the enemy and acted rashly, trapping my 50,000 troops in this desperate situation.

But regret is useless now. The most urgent task is to preserve the central and rear armies and withdraw as many as possible.

He suddenly turned his horse around and, surrounded by dozens of soldiers, retreated towards the central army. A group of officers and generals also turned their horses to follow, and a large area of ​​the mound was immediately cleared.

Meanwhile, the messenger rode swiftly to the front lines and relayed Shang Rang's military order to Xu Jian.

Xu Jianzheng was wielding his sword to supervise the battle when he heard this military order, and his expression immediately changed.

He glanced back at the Central Army and saw that Shang Rang's banner had begun to move eastward, which made his heart sink.

The idea of ​​"reorganizing troops to provide support from behind" is nothing but a deceptive lie.

Shang Rang was trying to use Xu Jian's life to save the army.

Xu Jian accepted Shang Rang's military order with outward respect, but inwardly he was cursing the heavens.

He watched as Shang Rang's banner, surrounded by his guards, marched further and further away, spat fiercely, and muttered a curse under his breath:

"Damn Shang Rang! He calls me brother all the time, but when it comes to this, he dumps me here as a scapegoat!"

Despite his anger, the current situation didn't allow him time to think things through.

The routed soldiers on Longweibei Hill surged down like a tide, mixed with many remnants of the old camp. They abandoned their helmets and armor, their faces filled with fear, shouting things like "The Tang army is coming!" and "We can't hold them off!" as they rushed towards his main camp like headless flies.

Xu Jian was, after all, a veteran who had fought his way up from Caozhou. Although he harbored selfish motives, he still possessed a certain degree of discipline in battle.

He acted decisively and sternly issued the order:

"Clear the road! The entire army retreats to the north and forms ranks along the mountainside! Swordsmen and shieldmen in front, spearmen behind, archers uphill! Quickly! Quickly!"

He could still command only three or four thousand soldiers on the left and right sides of the main banner. Upon hearing the commander's order, the captains and brigade commanders of each unit shouted to their soldiers to retreat from the official road to the north hillside.

The setup was completed in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

A passage was immediately cleared on the official road, and the fleeing soldiers, seeing that the vanguard had made way, shouted and surged toward the passage.

However, many people panicked and rushed straight into the formation that Xu Jianxin had set up.

Xu Jian stood on the slope with his sword at his side, and upon seeing this, he shouted sternly:

"I am ordered to cover the rear! All of you, heed my command—anyone who dares to charge our lines will be killed without mercy! Archers—"

The archers on the slope drew their bows in unison, their arrows aimed at the routed soldiers charging towards their main force.

Among the routed soldiers were veteran officers and soldiers, as well as those who had been driven back from the attack on the mountain. Some of the bolder ones, upon hearing this, flew into a rage and shouted angrily:

"Xu Jian! Are you blind? You're shooting your own brothers?"

Xu Jian remained expressionless and said coldly:

"Anyone who dares to charge our lines, even if they are one of our own brothers, will face my wrath! Fire!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the first volley of arrows whistled as they pierced the open ground a few steps in front of the fleeing soldiers, embedding themselves firmly in the soil, their shafts still trembling.

This is a warning.

The fleeing soldiers were so frightened by the volley of arrows that they all stopped in their tracks. A few of them almost crashed into the arrows, but were pulled back by their comrades behind them.

"Take a detour! Take the official road!"

Xu Jian's personal guards shouted at the top of their lungs at the fleeing soldiers.

"Anyone who charges into the enemy lines will be executed without mercy!"

Although the defeated soldiers were full of resentment, they also knew that military law was merciless.

Since Xu Jian dared to fire the first volley of arrows, he wouldn't hesitate to fire the second.

No one dared to charge towards their own lines anymore; instead, they all surged eastward along the cleared official road.

Xu Jian secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the routed soldiers were no longer charging into his own lines.

He looked up towards Longweibei. This place was three or five miles away from that high hill. He could vaguely see that the Tang army's infantry had regrouped and were chasing the cavalry down the mountain.

Xu Jian gritted his teeth and whispered to his trusted lieutenants beside him:

"Go and take back the banners; there's no need to fight anymore. The Grand Commandant has already left, so let's retreat as well. As long as we're alive, we can always fight again. Each of you take your men and wait for the Tang army to catch up. Take advantage of the chaos and slip into the mountains to the north. Once you're in the mountains, find a way back to Mei County. Go as far as you can."

The officers, who were already filled with fear, were relieved upon hearing this and clasped their hands in agreement before dispersing to relay the orders.

Just then, the thunderous sound of hooves suddenly quickened.

Xu Jian felt a chill run down his spine and abruptly looked up.

At the end of the official road, the vanguard of the Tang army's cavalry had already broken through the routed soldiers and rushed close.

The cavalrymen ignored the fleeing soldiers, spurring their horses and brandishing their swords, cutting down the fleeing soldiers blocking their way. Their hooves trampled through the blood and mud, carving a bloody path through the chaos of the army.

The first rider, his armor splattered with blood, its original color unrecognizable, and the long spear in his hand gleaming coldly in the setting sun, was none other than Li Changyan, the Left Wing Army Commander.

Behind him followed several flags, under which stood over a hundred cavalrymen, each covered in blood and exuding a murderous aura.

This cavalry force moved with incredible speed. Before Xu Jian's personal guards could even give a warning, the cavalrymen had already smashed into the formation that the vanguard was struggling to maintain, like an iron hammer.

boom--

The shield wall was smashed to pieces.

Several swordsmen and shield bearers were sent flying backwards by the ramming of the warhorse, spitting out mouthfuls of blood.

Seeing this, the spearmen in the back row also became fierce, pressing their ten-foot-long spears into the ground and pointing them diagonally at the Tang cavalry charging forward.

Faced with such a formation, Li Changyan, who was at the forefront, remained calm in the slightest. When they were only three or five steps apart and their spears were about to collide, he swung his spear left and right, skillfully deflecting the tips of three or four spears that were about to collide with him. Then, his warhorse charged in, breaking through the spear formation in front of him.

Despite its light and easy-to-use design, it is extremely difficult to time the operation correctly.

The cavalry following behind Li Changyan followed suit, but many of them failed, unable to deflect the spear tips and plunging headlong into the spear formation, where they and their warhorses were stabbed into bloody gourds.

However, in this way, the pierced warhorse carcasses, propelled by inertia, either crashed through the gun emplacements or bent the gun barrels, forcibly paving a path with their flesh and blood.

The cavalry behind did not stop for a moment, stepping over the corpses of their comrades, and poured into the gap in an endless stream, with flashing blades and flying blood and flesh.

Xu Jian was terrified and no longer cared about the flags or the rearguard.

He turned and began climbing the slope, shouting hoarsely:

"Stop them! Stop them!"

But his personal guards were also in complete disarray.

Several loyal soldiers bravely stepped forward to try and block the cavalry, but were slashed to the ground by the cavalry's sabers.

Seeing that their commander had fled, the others were no longer willing to fight for their lives.

They scattered and fled at the sound of a shout.

Li Changyan cleaved a rebel captain who was blocking his way with a single stroke of his sword. Looking up, he saw Xu Jian fleeing in a sorry state up the hillside, surrounded by his personal guards.

He didn't know who Xu Jian was, but seeing that the man was surrounded by dozens of soldiers, he knew that he was an important figure in the rebel army.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Li Changyan shouted and spurred his horse to give chase.

Although his chestnut horse had been galloping for most of the day, it still had plenty of energy left, and with its four hooves flying, it caught up with the hillside.

Xu Jian looked back and saw that the Tang general was getting closer and closer. He was terrified and hurriedly drew his sword from his waist, turning around to slash.

Li Changyan dodged to the side, and as the two horses passed each other, his sword swept upwards, striking Xu Jian squarely in the right rib.

This strike was powerful and heavy; the blade sliced ​​through the armor and embedded itself deeply into the flesh and bone.

Xu Jian screamed and fell off his horse, rolling twice down the hillside before crashing into a large rock. Blood gushed from his mouth, and after struggling for a moment, he lay still.