I was living in the Five Dynasties period, just after crossing the Zhongdu Bridge.

Outside Mingzhou city, the rain intensified.

Yang An was leading his Khitan cavalry through the villages, their horses carrying newly looted silks and dragging behind them wailing women and children.

This is the most common situation in chaotic times.

Warriors kill and plunder, using this as a means to advance their careers; barbarian tribes raid southwards, using this as the foundation of their nation.

Beneath that mud wall, a woman was being held down by two Liao soldiers.

The woman's hair was disheveled and her face was covered in mud, yet she still desperately protected the child, who was not even ten years old, behind her.

Although the child was terrified and turned pale, he also showed a fierce spirit like a newborn calf, roaring at the group of armored soldiers covered in blood.

"You damned barbarians! My father is a member of the Righteous Army! When he returns with his army, he will chop off all your heads and feed them to the dogs!"

"The Righteous Army?"

These words, when they reached Yang An's ears, were met with a burst of unrestrained, maniacal laughter.

Yang An reined in his horse, glanced sideways at the gloomy-faced adjutant beside him, and spoke with sarcasm.

"Commander Li, did you hear that? This little beast said his father is from the Righteous Army."

To be honest, you, the former master of the Righteous Army, are not as principled as a baby.

What do you think? "

The deputy general's name was Li Yin, and he was currently the deputy general of this Liao cavalry unit.

Before that, he did have a more prestigious identity.

Commander of the Jin Yiwu Army.

When Du Chongwei surrendered, Yelü Deguang marched south, and Dingzhou was the first to be hit.

It was at that time that Li Yin wisely pledged allegiance, leading his Han Chinese men to don the Khitan skin.

Li Yin's eyes twitched slightly, and her nose suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

Having spent so long in this chaotic world, his conscience had long become a burden, yet the three words "Righteous Army" from the child's mouth still pierced into the old stories he had deliberately forgotten.

There was a time when he led these spirited young men on patrols along the border, protecting the people.

But now, he stands beside the warhorses of the Hu people, watching his subordinates' wives and children struggle in the mud.

"The world's fate should naturally fall to Liao. This child is ignorant and dares to talk nonsense about the Righteous Army."

Li Yin lowered his head, his voice was hoarse, and he forced a smile that looked worse than crying.

In order to survive under Namad's command, one not only had to sell one's own backbone, but also had to accompany these barbarians to trample on one's own foundation.

"Since you're so loyal, then you can send them on their way." Yang An curled his lip, his eyes filled with increasing sarcasm.

"This can also be seen as putting an end to your righteous army's last hope."

Li Yin fell silent.

He looked at the child with his fists clenched tightly, then at the desperate woman.

The sword in his hand weighed more than a thousand pounds, yet he couldn't draw it for a long time.

Surrender is not shameful; what is shameful is that after you surrender, you have to personally extinguish the light in the eyes of those who once trusted you.

Just as Li Yin slowly moved forward, the village woman closed her eyes in despair.

Suddenly, a dazzling bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a thunderous roar like ten thousand horses galloping, sweeping in from the southern horizon.

The rain poured down like a torrential downpour.

This rain came too fast and too hard.

It seemed that even the heavens could not bear to see the filth all over the ground, and wanted to use this rootless water to wash away the sins of this world.

Yang An wiped the rain off his face and was about to urge him on when he saw a dark line at the end of the misty rain.

The line was initially very thin, but it rapidly grew stronger amidst the thunderous roar, transforming into an iron torrent that was advancing in this direction with overwhelming force.

"Mount up! Engage the enemy!"

Yang An, after all, was a seasoned general who had been through many battles, and his intuition instantly overcame his playful thoughts.

He roared fiercely, and although his elite Khitan cavalry were still looting, they reacted quickly, mounting their horses and attempting to form ranks on the main road.

"Fire arrows! Shoot these southern barbarians to death!"

Yang An watched the approaching shadowy figure, a sense of unease creeping into his heart.

Guo Congyi's army had long been demoralized, and where else could one find such well-organized cavalry near Mingzhou City?

However, it seems that Heaven is determined to oppose the Liao people today.

The rain was so heavy and wet that the leather bow made of sinew and horn in the hands of the Khitan became useless at that moment.

The leather string softened from the dampness, and the sharp arrows that could originally penetrate armor now fell limply into the mud after only a few dozen steps.

"We absolutely cannot let them use their strength on the horses!" Yang An shouted. "Discard your bows! Draw your swords! Charge!"

Seeing that the enemy had already pressed close, if they did not rush to meet them head-on, their side would surely be crushed by the enemy's momentum.

He must counteract it.

Only through head-to-head competition can one rely on superior equestrian skills to gain a chance of survival.

Yang An urged him frantically in his ear, and Li Yin finally came to his senses.

He gave the woman, who had narrowly escaped death, a long look, his lips moved, and finally he let out a soft sigh.

"I'm sorry."

I just don't know if this apology is for the woman or for myself.

Immediately, he mounted his horse, took the spear from the side of the saddle, and followed with the remaining soldiers.

On this rainy night in the Mingzhou Plain, two streams of iron are about to collide in the mud.

Ten zhang (approximately 33 meters).

Five zhang (approximately 10 meters).

Li Yin, acting as the vanguard, finally made out the enemy general in front of the enemy lines through the blurry rain and mist.

The man was clad in a set of pure black armor. The armor was strangely designed, stripped of its elaborate embellishments, with only the golden shoulder-swallowing beasts on his shoulders gleaming coldly in the lightning.

The black horse beneath him was shaped like a dragon, and the sound of its hooves striking the ground was like the beating of drums.

The general held a horizontal sword in his left hand and a long spear held horizontally in his right, the tip of which remained motionless in the rain.

Such a sight was definitely not the cavalry of Guo and Xue's forces in Mingzhou.

At this critical moment between life and death, Li Yin suddenly felt a strange tremor in his heart.

He seemed to recall the days when he was part of the Righteous Army, when he charged into the enemy lines in the same way.

Then, for some unknown reason, the Liao army deputy general suddenly increased his horse's speed and, with bloodshot eyes, shouted at the general in the midst of the thunderous charge.

"Who goes there?!"

He wanted to obtain a title.

Even if it meant death, he wanted to know who dared to lead cavalry to crash into the Liao cavalry's great formation in this rotten Central Plains.

As Shen Lie rode on Mo Xiao's back, he felt his blood boiling.

He didn't care who the other person was at all.

Whether he was a traitor or a loyal martyr, it doesn't matter.

On this battlefield, wearing that barbarian clothing and leading that rebel army, one is destined to be killed.

Mo Xiao let out a high-pitched neigh, the sound of its hooves pounding the mud drowning out the thunder.

The two horses clashed, and the outcome was decided in the blink of an eye.

Li Yin, confident in his martial arts skills, thrust his spear forward.

Shen Lie simply turned slightly to avoid Li Yin's spear, and in the instant the two horses crossed paths, his right hand suddenly thrust out with his long spear.

puff!

That was the sound of a sharp blade piercing through armor and flesh.

Using the immense momentum from the collision of the two warhorses, Shen Lie's long spear pierced straight into Li Yin's chest and emerged from his back.

Li Yin's expression, which was about to erupt in anger, froze on his face.

He felt an overwhelming force lift him off the horse.

Shen Lie did not let go. Instead, taking advantage of the unstoppable momentum, he used his right arm to exert force and slammed the two horses to the side and back.

Li Yin's burly body seemed weightless as Shen Lie lifted him off the horse and threw him heavily into the mud.

He lay on his back in the muddy water, his blood spreading rapidly under the wash of the rain.

Watching the Han general utterly crush the Liao army, Li Yin's lips curled into a relieved smile.

It turns out that there were still men in the Han Chinese who were capable of killing.

Ultimately, the world belongs to these courageous young people.

He, a spineless old man, deserves to die in the rain of Mingzhou.

Only then did Shen Lie's somewhat low response, made by the high-speed movement, resound on the edge of Li Yin's already fading consciousness.

"Yaozhou, Shen Lie!"