Three thousand miles in exile

In the midsummer of July, the imperial capital is shrouded in hot and poisonous heat, and the sun is so hot that it seems to melt everything.

Central Plains drought!

Drought covered the land of four counties and eight states, and nine out of ten farmlands failed to harvest.

Emperor Wen led all the officials to sacrifice to the sky and fasted for seven days. The sky was still so clean that there was no cloud or even the slightest wind. Even the air in the entire imperial capital was frozen.

People gradually panic.

It was at this time that the news of Qi Yun's capture of Lufeng County came back, and all the officials were arguing about this issue every morning, but no one dared to make a final decision on Liu Zhan's conviction.

In the final analysis, Liu Zhan has not yet treasoned the country. If he really did treason in a hurry, who can bear the responsibility, even Zhou Chan dare not make a conclusion.

Zhao Hengfu and Liu Tongxin felt really complicated about this.

They wrote to ask Liu Zhan what he meant, Liu Zhan's reply was very straightforward, whoever laid down the city would belong to whom, it was impossible for him to hand over the city to Zhou Chan, and bluntly told the two to leave the court alone.

Zhao Hengfu disapproved of Liu Zhan's actions very much, and wrote a large letter criticizing Liu Zhan eloquently.

Soon it was August, and the Central Plains was still suffering from severe drought. There was no rain for three months of scorching heat, the rivers dried up, the farmland cracked, and the seedlings died. It is already foreseeable that there will be famine this year and the next.

It was amid such panic that the news of Xixia's destruction of the country fell like thunder.

At that time, Liu Zhan was inspecting the defense in Lufeng County.

Zhang Xiaoman chased after him with the news obtained by the spies and reported to Liu Zhan.

"The Xirong Hu people implemented the policy of three massacres every time they passed. No one, men, women, old or young were spared. In just one year, they slaughtered all the people in Xixia and almost exterminated them! The king of Xixia led the remnants to flee to Mobei, but was killed by Xianbei Hu people , the Xixia royal family is extinct."

The wind blew down the withered grass on the wilderness, and the sound of human voices came from the construction site in the distance.

Liu Zhan's face was condensed. "Go back to Jinyang and tell Mr. Song that the firm will be withdrawn from the Hanzhong Mutual Market, and Xirong will go south."

At this time when the storm was about to come, the Great Chu Dynasty Hall was arguing over the title of the second prince of the late emperor.

Zhao Hengfu strongly recommended that the king should be awarded according to the etiquette system, so as to show the benevolence of the emperor.

Zhou Chan flatly refused. "How can the second prince be promoted to the rank with solid evidence of his intent to rebel!"

Everyone is well aware of what happened back then, and now Emperor Wen has been on the throne for two years, Zhou Chan is firmly seated as Prime Minister, and the second prince is still under confinement in the cold palace without seeing the light of day.

Zhao Hengfu was filled with righteous indignation. "The Son of Heaven is the lord of the people, and he should have benevolence and righteousness in his heart. If even his own brothers can't treat him well, how can he talk about inner sages and outer kings, and how can he talk about self-cultivation, family harmony, and country rule!"

"Treason is treason, how can such a serious crime be forgiven!" Zhou Chan refused to enter.

"Prime Minister, you are trying to injure Your Majesty!" Zhao Hengfu cursed angrily.

Zhou Chan snorted coldly. "The emperor is old and confused. This old man is a blood relative of His Majesty, how could he be wronged by His Majesty!"

Because of Zhou Chan's insistence and Emperor Wen's silence, the matter was finally settled.

Zhao Hengfu really cared about Emperor Wen's reputation, but he ignored one point. Emperor Wen was suspicious by nature just like the first emperor. There was already a deadly feud between brothers who were contending for the heirloom, and Emperor Wen was unwilling to promote him from the bottom of his heart.

Also in this month, the Yan army went south!

"Report--! The army of the Yan army has passed through the Yueyang Pass."

Liu Zhan sits firmly in the Chinese army. "Pass down the general's order, Hu Xu ordered [-] soldiers to guard Tongtian Pass, Cao Ming led [-] soldiers to stay in Jinyang, Cao Zhuang led [-] soldiers from the left camp, and Li Xiaolian led [-] soldiers from the right camp to go out with this general!"

After a year's absence, the King of Yan sent Yelu Longji, the left general, to lead [-] soldiers to the south, one for revenge, and the other for taking back Hecang and Lufeng counties.

Yelu Longji followed the advice of his subordinates and attacked Lufeng County first.

Lufeng County is located in the southeast of Yangbeiao, with the county seat backed by Yangbeiao and facing the endless plain.

Yelu Longji didn't pay attention to this small county town at all. What he cared about was Liu Zhan's weapons that could break through heavy armor, and the shield array that looked like a copper wall and an iron wall.

In this regard, Yelu Longji also made targeted reforms to the arms under his command.

He also added heavy armor and shield soldiers like Qi Yun's army to withstand the opponent's cavalry. At the same time, he improved the Yan army's iron cavalry. The epee was too short to be suppressed. Yelu Longji gave up the epee equipment. to win.

Yelu Longji is full of confidence in this battle. He has 15 elite soldiers in his hands. In addition to the defenders stationed at Yueyang Pass and Fanyang Pass, he has more than [-] troops. The scouts said that Liu Zhan only sent [-] troops. Not more than thirty thousand.

As for the defenders in the Yangguan, the Northern Army and the Qiyun Army were at odds. Yelu Longji predicted that the Northern Army would not leave the city, and even if they came, they would not be afraid. They only needed to mobilize the defenders of Liyang and Fanyang to intercept them.

Yelu Longji felt that he had already won the battle.

There is no wind in the Cangxia Plain today, the sky is covered with clouds, and the scorching sun occasionally appears, but is quickly covered by clouds.

Yelu Longji's [-] troops came five miles outside Lufeng County.

"Report--! Qi Yun's army is in formation outside Lufeng County!"

At this time, Qi Yun's [-] soldiers and horses had already lined up outside Lufeng County, in a formation of crane wings.

The left and right outermost sides are respectively [-] Modao light cavalry phalanxes, the next level is [-] □□ heavy cavalry phalanxes, and the next level is [-] horse-rejecting phalanxes. These three levels have a total of [-] soldiers .

There are ten sections of trenches dug in the center of the crane wings, each section is [-] meters, and the trenches are staggered and separated from each other. There are [-] crossbowmen hiding in the trenches.The Chinese army is behind the Crane Wing Formation, consisting of [-] heavy armored soldiers and [-] horsemen.

The entire Crane Wing Formation is backed by Lufeng County, and the Yan army can only attack from the front or from the left and right sides and cannot go around the back. This is the purpose of Liu Zhan's deployment of this formation.

The forward of the Yan army came to Lufeng County one mile away with the sound of the horn.

The [-]-strong army lived up to its reputation, and it was impossible to see to the end. The two armies faced each other in front of the formation, and the sultry air seemed to freeze, making it suffocating.

Yelu Longji climbed onto the cloud platform, looking from him, Qi Yun's middle army was exposed in the center naked.

A counselor immediately said to Yelu Longji: "General Zuo! This is an encirclement formation."

Yelu Longji snorted coldly. "People in the Central Plains like to put up this kind of fancy formation. We have a 6 army, and they can surround [-] soldiers and horses with only [-] soldiers? It's ridiculous."

The Yan people disdain formations the most when fighting in battle. In their view, any formation is useless in the face of absolute military strength.

Yelu Longji couldn't wait to order. "The left and right forwards each send out a battalion of rangers to contain the cavalry around them, and the three cavalry battalions go straight to the central army!"

A battalion is [-] soldiers, and Yelu Longji sent [-] cavalry with a wave of his hand.

Yan Jun sounded a long horn.

At the same time, Qi Yunjun heard drums beating three times slower.

The two horse-resisting formations on the left and right immediately started to move. The heavy armored shield soldiers and the infantrymen quickly assembled a semi-circular formation. The heavy armored infantry in the center of the Chinese army immediately raised their horses and stepped forward, making a move to withstand the enemy's impact. attitude.

Soon three groups of cavalry rushed out of the Yan army, and Qi Yunjun's drums turned sharply, and the Modao light cavalry phalanx on the left and right immediately moved to meet the Yan army's rangers.

Yelu Longji laughed out loud. "It really hit the trick!"

The iron cavalry of the Yan army charged at full speed, and their purpose was to hit the central army of Qi Yun's army and completely smash the encircled formation.

At this moment, Qi Yunjun's drumbeat became more and more urgent, and suddenly the stormy drumbeat stopped.

The iron cavalry of the Yan army rushing to the front fell one after another, and the neighing sound of the horses resounded across the battlefield!

Yelu Longji's smile froze on his face.

The weeds on the midsummer wilderness were waist-deep, and no one on the side of the Yan army saw it. At the moment the drumbeat stopped, six thousand crossbowmen ambushed in the trenches all pulled the triggers.

These guns are only as long as arms, and can shoot two arrows at a time. They are powerful and can wear heavy armor. Not only that, the arrows have blood bar hooks and are smeared with poison.

The poison on the arrow comes from a very common tree on Qiyun Mountain. It can't kill people but it can make people feel the burning pain.

The horse that was hit by the arrow immediately lost its fighting ability, struggled and neighed all over the ground, and the cavalry of the Yan Army were thrown off the horse one after another.

The cavalry was very fast, the first wave of salvos suppressed the forward, and the following cavalry rushed up immediately.

□□One shortcoming is that the reloading is too slow, the ordinary longbow can shoot three arrows in a row, □□can only fire one arrow.

Liu Zhan had expected it a long time ago. After shooting the first wave, the gunman immediately pinned the crossbow to his waist belt, and picked up the war spear with the barb instead.

The Yan army cavalry thought that someone was lying in ambush in the grass ahead, but they didn't know that the person was hiding underground. When they rushed to the criss-cross trench formation, they were stunned by the long pits on the ground, so they could only subconsciously choose to jump over.

At this moment, the soldiers in the trench raised their spears one after another, stabbing or hooking the horse's feet. The horse's feet were not protected by armor, and they would break if they were cut.

For a while, most of the Yan army's iron cavalry fell in a mess. As soon as the cavalry fell to the ground, some soldiers immediately went up to make up for the knife.

But in one face-to-face effort, half of the Yan army's [-] cavalry were gone!

At that time, Qi Yunjun sounded the drums again.

The phalanx of two thousand heavily armored spearmen raised their guns horizontally and took ten steps forward, then squatted down to prepare for the stabbing. A thousand shield soldiers crossed and stood between the spearmen, erected their shields and knelt on one knee with their shoulders Hold on and be prepared to be attacked by cavalry.

In the blink of an eye, the Yan Army's cavalry rushed forward, and the Yan Army's horse in battle armor collided with the iron shield, making a deafening metal collision sound.

At this moment, the infantry Modao on the left and right sides of the Chinese army started to move, and surrounded the Yan army's iron cavalry.

The moment Mo Dao came out, the scene of broken horses and harnesses was clearly displayed in front of Yelu Longji.

Those soldiers wielded their long knives that were taller than a human being, swirling down and chopping down people and horses. Even if the Yan army's iron cavalry was replaced, it still did not turn the tide of the battle.

Liu Zhan has thoroughly studied the Yan army's iron cavalry.

The Yan army's iron cavalry charged like a small tank and was really powerful, so Liu Zhan set up a trench formation to consume the charge of the Yan army's iron cavalry, and he was exhausted when he came to the Chinese army.

The infantry Mo Dao Shou was more flexible than the stopped Yan Army iron cavalry. The eight thousand infantry Mo Dao Shou closed up and strangled from the outside layer by layer. The Yan Army cavalry was surrounded and swallowed layer by layer.

In less than an hour, Qi Yun's army devoured [-] soldiers of Yan's army!

Yelu Longji's heart trembled.

The Yan army seemed to be intimidated, and did not dare to fight again for a while.

However, after the destruction of the Yan army, the Qi Yun army returned to their respective positions in an orderly manner.

The wounded were immediately replaced, and the city's reserve army came up to clean up the battlefield and carried the dead soldiers back to the county. It took only a quarter of an hour, and soon there were only the corpses of the Yan army in the Crane Wing Formation left on the battlefield.

"Report—! Qi Yun's army wiped out the five forward battalions of Yan's army!"

Zhang Taining stood up abruptly, his face excited. "amazing!"

Zhou Sui's face was neither yin nor yang, and he didn't know whether he wanted Qi Yun's army to win or lose.

Jinyang at the same time.

The Yan army went south, Jinyang was under martial law, all the city gates were closed, and all the people living in the Cangxia Plain were evacuated to the top of Furongping, leaving only the young and strong militiamen to defend the beacon towers of the townships together with the local defenders.

Song Fenglin sat in the high hall of the garrison camp in Jinyang City in Tsing Yi. Liu Zhan had made arrangements before going out. If he lost the battle, he would organize the young and strong people to return to Qiyun Mountain and concentrate his troops to defend Jinyang City.

Half a day passed, Song Fenglin didn't show it on the face, but he was anxious inside.

"Mr. Song! Our army wiped out the Yan Army's five forward battalions! The confrontation is still ongoing, and the Yan Army has not moved!"

Hearing the good news, Song Fenglin's expression was slightly relaxed.

He should trust Liu Zhan, Song Fenglin clenched his saber tightly.

The sun was high in the sky, the clouds dispersed a little, and the scorching sun shone unscrupulously on the wilderness.

On the cloud platform wrapped by the Yan Army's Zhongjun, the counselor and the lieutenant were arguing endlessly.

The lieutenant general said: "There are traps in the formation, we can no longer attack from the front, we should go around the left and right wings and attack them."

The counselor insisted: "Dividing troops on the battlefield is a big taboo. I think this formation is flexible, and the formation on the left and right wings is symmetrical. It may not be impossible to fight alone!"

"Dividing the troops here is not the same as dividing the troops! To break this formation, we should cooperate from the inside and the outside. The army presses over, the infantry charges, and the cavalry surrounds the outside. This disrupts their formation and makes it impossible to take care of both."

The deputy general clasped his fists and said earnestly: "General Zuo, we still have heavy armored shield soldiers to restrain the enemy cavalry. The advantage of our army's cavalry is charging, and there is no need to use it to break the formation."

The counselor hurriedly said: "General Zuo, it is the best policy to make a decision and then move!"

"It's already past noon, and the morale of the soldiers will be exhausted if we drag it on!" the deputy general retorted.

Yelu Longji paced back and forth and finally took the advice of the lieutenant general. The infantry charged and the cavalry went around the formation, no longer a small group of temptations.

The horns of all battalions of the Yan Army sounded together.

The cavalry of the Yan army divided into two groups rushed towards the left and right wings of the Qi Yun army at an extremely fast speed, and they actually threw all the iron cavalry and rangers of the Yan army into the battlefield.

The Modao light cavalry phalanx and the □□ heavy cavalry phalanx all moved, facing the Yan army on the left and right wings respectively!

At the same time, [-] heavily armored and shielded soldiers of the Yan Army covered [-] infantry and attacked head-on.

Qi Yunjun's drums were loud.

The horse-rejecting formations on the left and right started to move, and quickly moved closer to the trench formation. Five thousand heavily armored soldiers lined up to push forward and block behind the trench formation, and the infantry Mo Daoshou lined up behind the horse-rejecting phalanx.

Several square formations that were originally scattered quickly formed a new formation centered on the trench formation.

With the sound of drums, Liu Zhan took the Mo Dao from the guard and walked down the platform, and he mounted the horse.

Yelu Longji thought that Liu Zhan would stay in the Chinese army and sit in the rear commanding?He was wrong, Qi Yunjun has no weakness, every soldier is a forward!

The [-] Modao cavalry led by Liu Zhan are one-in-a-million strong men with excellent armor and the best horses. This is the real sharpest sword of Qi Yun's army.

Because the large formation in front blocked his line of sight, Yelu Longji couldn't see the movement behind Qi Yunjun's central army. He thought that Qi Yunjun put up this large formation to protect the central army.

The infantry behind the Yan army fired several waves of arrows at Qi Yun's army, but the shield soldiers of Qi Yun's army blocked them tightly, and the arrows had little effect.

The Yan Army's heavy armored infantry forward quickly came to the front of the formation. At this moment, dozens of giant arrows as thick as arms were shot from the wall of Lufeng County.

The range of the crossbow bed is much farther than that of the bow and arrow. The general of the Yan army who led the infantry charge never thought that there would be a counterattack on the wall of Lufeng County behind Qi Yunjun.

I saw that the giant arrow was so powerful that it could shoot through the shield, and the shield formation that was advancing neatly was immediately scattered.

Not only that, the Yan army did not see the trenches on the ground until they were close, and no matter how complete their formation was, they could not advance neatly on the criss-cross trenches.

The general of the Yan army was not good at formations, and his plan for a frontal attack was disrupted, so he had to hastily order a siege around the left and right sides.

This is exactly in Liu Zhan's arms.

The infantry of the Yan army swarmed up and wanted to go around to the back of the horse-repelling formations. However, waiting for them behind the two horse-repelling formations was Mo Dao Shou wielding a long knife!

Li Xiaolian was the commander of the formation. Seeing that he had achieved his goal of forcing the Yan army to split up, he immediately raised the green flag in his hand, and the sound of drums sounded to signal that the infantry, Mo Dao Shou, charged out from behind the formation of rejecting horses.

The infantry of the Yan army was in chaos. They wanted to advance in formation, but they were scattered and became a chaotic battle.

Qi Yunbing, who was ambushing in the trenches, tried his best to sneak up on Yan Bing. Those barbed spears became a nightmare for Yan Bing, and his legs were lost if he didn't pay attention.

At the same time, the cavalry charged by the two sides gradually separated, and more and more cavalry of the Yan army fell.

The battlefield outside Lufeng County was shrouded in dust, only the neighing of war horses and shouts of killing could be heard endlessly.

Yelu Longji was watching nervously. At this moment, a cavalry circled from behind Qi Yun's army to the left front. Because of his joining, an overwhelming scene appeared in the cavalry camp on the left front, and the Yan army's iron cavalry was quickly defeated.

As soon as Liu Zhan and Cao Zhuang joined forces, Qi Yun's cavalry in the front left immediately rushed towards the central army of Yan's army like arrows flying off the string.

There are [-] iron cavalry in the Yan army's middle army. These are Yelu Longji's personal soldiers.

"Get on the horse! Let's fight!" Yelu Longji gritted his teeth.

There were more than [-] Qiyun cavalry who followed Liu Zhan to attack the Yan army's central army, and Yelu Longji didn't think he would lose.

"Whoever can take Liu Zhan's head, I will reward you a thousand taels!" Yelu Longji raised his epee high. "kill!!"

Twenty thousand cavalry rushed out screaming.

Liu Zhan took the lead and rushed to the front of the battle, with the Mo knife in his hand, he had a clear goal, and the blade pointed at Yelu Longji!

The cavalry on both sides reached the fastest speed, and at this moment they only had the enemy in their eyes!

The two armies intertwined.

The Mo Dao in Liu Zhan's hand cut off the opponent's spear along the way, and the Yan soldier fell under the horse in two parts.

The cavalry can only stab with a spear, and if they miss it, they will fall into a passive position. This is not the case with the Mo Dao, which can be rotated, hacked, or stabbed.

Just a face-to-face encounter, the forward of the Yan Army Iron Cavalry had already fallen, and soon Liu Zhan saw Yelu Longji in front of him!

At the same time, Yelu Longji also saw Liu Zhan. Yelu Longji always remembered the enemy who was driven away by a surprise attack outside Zhou Shukou.

Liu Zhan's goal is also clear.

The coaches of both sides were surrounded by personal guards and fierce generals, and the battle was at odds for a while.

But Yelu Longji underestimated the power of the Modao cavalry, the horror of the Modao lies in the fact that one move is fatal!

Around Liu Zhan are Cao Zhuang, Guo Donghu, Niu Shilu and other first-class generals. In their hands, the swords and tigers are like the autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves, and they are one against ten.

Soon Yelu Longji found that there were fewer and fewer people around him.

"General Zuo! Run!!" Lieutenant Yan Jun shouted at the top of his lungs.

Yelu Longji also felt the danger, he turned around and ran away without hesitation, how could Liu Zhan let him succeed and immediately chased after him.

After all, the Yan people were a people on horseback, and they fled extremely fast. The lieutenant general led them to the rear, and Liu Zhan fought hard to kill those Yan troops who were trying to stop him.

At this time, Liu Zhan's eyes were only on Yelu Longji's back, he really wanted to take Yelu Longji down!

Yelu Longji is the left general of the Yan Kingdom and the leader of the most powerful and combative tribe in the Yan Kingdom. As long as Yelu Longji is captured, the Cangxia Plain will be safe for at least five years!

Suddenly Liu Zhan felt a pain in his back. He was just distracted for a moment and was shot by surprise.

"Protect the general!!" Cao Zhuang's eyes were tearing apart.

The cavalry of the Yan army who was sneaking up was cut off by the violent Cao Zhuang in an instant.

"Big tiger! Big cow! You protect the general and retreat! I'm going to chase that guy!" Cao Zhuang roared.

"Don't chase." At this time Liu Zhan had calmed down, he couldn't help panting, the old villain had already run away without a trace, so there was no point in catching up.