Under night, the seriously injured Yelu Zong was fleeing on horseback.
"Damn it... Pei Min... I, Yelu Zong, swear here that you will pay with your blood!"
Yelvzong said "wow" and a mouthful of blood came out. He was unsteady and almost fell off his horse.
He stabilized his body, tightened the reins, and looked back with lingering fear.
In the dark night, the sound of horse hooves other than his could be heard faintly.
"It's endless."
Yelvzong was targeted by that person two hours ago.
He didn't know where the man came from. When Yelvzong found out, the man was already following him about a mile behind him.
Judging by his attire, he should be Tang Jun.
Yelvzong frowned, "The Tang army... didn't kill me, why?"
He suddenly remembered something and laughed belatedly.
"I'm really stupid. I forgot that the Tang army is not monolithic."
"That person's identity is still a minister of the Tang Dynasty."
Yelvzong spread his arms and shouted loudly:
"Are they from General An Lushan?"
The visitor slowly rode out in the shadows, his face illuminated by the moonlight.
A white horse, a silver spear, and a silver-robed general.
"no."
Xu Yanqiu said coldly: "I am here to take your life!"
Seeing the mottled blood stains on Xu Yanqiu's body, as if he had rolled in a pool of blood, Yelvzong couldn't help but sink his face.
"What's your name?" Yelvzong asked hoarsely.
"Chengyang Army Pioneer Officer, Xu Yanqiu."
"Are you Pei Min's subordinate?" Yelvzong smiled, "Pei Min can't even kill me, so it's up to you? You're just going to die in vain."
"No matter what you say, you are embarrassing yourself." Xu Yanqiu smiled disdainfully, "If you hadn't used some dirty tricks, could you have escaped from Pei Shuai?"
"Don't regard your own embarrassment as glory. All three-year-old children in the Tang Dynasty know that if you lose a fight, you can't blame the other party for being merciful."
Yelvzong's eyes were cold: "You are no match for me."
"Then I'm going to kill you too."
Xu Yanqiu gently pinched the horse's belly. When he sat down, the white horse neighed and its hooves kept tapping the ground.
"To avenge my brothers."
Yelvzong thought for a while: "I have never met a young man like you, and I don't bother to kill your ordinary soldiers of the Tang Dynasty. In total, in my life, no more than ten Tang people have died in my hands.
indivual."
"Then do you still remember a man of about thirty years old who wielded a broadsword?"
Xu Yanqiu said in a deep voice: "In order to stay behind and break the rear of the large army, he took less than a thousand people to meet the Khitan front army led by Yelu Zong."
"...I have an impression."
Fang Ping's appearance appeared in Yeluzong's mind. He nodded and said:
"That general of the Tang Army was very good, very good, and an enemy worthy of admiration."
"What's his name?"
"The house is flat."
Xu Yanqiu said softly: "Not only him, but also Meng Guoliang, Lan Zuxing, Zhang Zhongyou, and the thousands of Tang soldiers who died in your hands, each of them is my brother."
"It seems that this battle is inevitable."
Yelvzong's eyes were gloomy, and he quietly touched his chest. There was a ferocious sword wound there, which was left by Pei Min's sword energy.
This sword should have cut off his body directly, but Yelvzong mobilized all his internal strength to resist in his chest at the critical moment. Although he saved his life, it completely lost his ability to fight again and he could only run away in embarrassment.
Nowadays, although the bleeding has stopped, Yelu Zong's skills are still very weak. Whether he can deal with the white-robed young man in front of him is still unknown.
"He's just a mortal, there's nothing to be afraid of."
Yelvzong took a deep breath and took out a bone flute from his sleeve.
He snatched it back from the rebel army, but it did not belong to him. Its original owner should have been Ashina Shigemitsu.
The bone flute practiced by Yelu Zong consists of the skull and left and right arm bones, and this one is the right leg bone. Although the playing method of Wu Shen Xiu is different, it should be more than enough to deal with the Xu Yanqiu in front of him.
He placed the bone flute across his lips, took a deep breath, and started playing slowly.
Xu Yanqiu's eyes flashed, and he shouted loudly: "Drive!", then he raised his gun, slapped the horse, and stabbed Yelu Zong.
"Woo——"
The melodious sound of the flute echoed on the grassland. Xu Yanqiu's forward momentum slowed down sharply. The white horse neighed uneasily and twisted its body when he sat down, almost knocking Xu Yanqiu off the horse.
Yelvzong showed a sneer and stepped forward slowly, preparing to kill Xu Yanqiu who was in a state of confusion.
But when he walked in front of Xu Yanqiu, Xu Yanqiu, who had been lowering his head in pain, suddenly raised his head, and cut off his bone flute with a knife under Yelu Zong's stunned eyes.
"Uh-huh..."
Yelvzong covered his nose and stepped back in pain. Xu Yanqiu's knife also cut off the bridge of his nose.
If the force had been stronger, Yelvzong's entire head would have been split in two.
"How is that possible!" Yelvzong looked at Xu Yanqiu in disbelief, and the latter stared at him angrily and coldly.
Finally, Yelvzong discovered something unusual.
Something sticky was slowly flowing down from Xu Yanqiu's ears.
That bright red color is clearly blood!
"You...you poked your own ears blind?"
Xu Yanqiu did not answer him because now, he could no longer hear any sound.
Yelvzong felt an inexplicable sadness in his heart - originally, the Wu Shen Zou would not be rendered ineffective by the loss of hearing, but now that he was seriously injured, he could no longer fully exert the effect of the Wu Shen Zou, which made Xu Yanqiu deaf in both ears.
They are all immune to the influence of the witch god music.
"Heh...boy, you don't think I can only use this thing, do you?"
Yelvzong struggled to get up from the ground, holding a broken bone flute in each hand, and ferociously rushed toward Xu Yanqiu.
Xu Yanqiu held the spear in his hand and dealt with it calmly. Now, his marksmanship has long lost the nihilistic splendor of the past. Every move reveals his fierceness in its simplicity.
…
Sanyu and Li Xin'an led their men and searched north all night. Until dawn, they still found no trace of Xu Yanqiu.
"Brothers are also tired. Let's dismount and rest for a while." Sanyu said.
Everyone got off the horse and started to tidy up. Li Xin'an looked at the messy horse hoof marks on the ground, frowned and said:
"This is indeed the direction in which the Khitan army retreated. Judging from the trampled marks on these grasses, they are still very fresh. They should have just left here less than three hours ago."
"If this is the case, it stands to reason that we should have found Yanqiu long ago." Chang Yu said, "Xin'an, do you think it is possible that the Khitan troops escaped in two directions?"
"Hiss... that's right." Li Xin'an's expression changed, "I can't rule out this possibility."
Sanyu smiled bitterly and said: "At this point, it is impossible for us to divide our troops again. We can only continue to search along the traces. If we still can't find it tomorrow..."
"We can only hope that Yanqiu can come back on his own." Li Xin'an sighed and said softly.
After about a stick of incense, the soldiers finished their repairs and continued to mount their horses to search for traces of Xu Yanqiu.
That's it, until noon.
"Look, there's someone in front of you!"
A sharp-eyed soldier shouted loudly, and people looked in the direction he pointed, and sure enough they saw a horseman approaching from a distance.
Chang Yu rubbed his eyes and said, "That's Yan Qiu!"
"drive!"
Everyone hurried over on horseback, and when they saw Xu Yanqiu's condition, everyone took a breath.
Xu Yanqiu's two eye sockets have turned into dark holes. The eyeballs are missing. Blood has condensed in his ears. A huge scar extends from his left shoulder to his right abdomen. Two bones are in the middle.
Stick it on his back.
"Yanqiu..." Sanyu's lips trembled and he couldn't say a complete sentence.
Li Xin'an lowered his head and found that Xu Yanqiu's left hand was holding a head.
"This is... Yelv Sect."
During the chaos yesterday, Li Xin'an met Yelv Zong from a distance. He recognized that this was Yelv Zong, the head of the eight priests of the Wushen Sect!
Xu Yanqiu sat upright on the horse, still holding the spear tightly in his right hand. The white horse he sat on walked to the center of the crowd, whimpered a few times, and knelt down softly.
Chang Yu quickly removed Xu Yanqiu's body from the horse and laid it flat on the ground.
"Silly brother... why are you so stupid..." Sanyu's tears fell like rain, and he stroked Xu Yanqiu's blood-stained cheek. In extreme grief and anger, Sanyu howled loudly.
Li Xin'an, who was used to seeing separation and separation, felt like his heart was cut with a knife at this moment. Thinking back to the beginning, it was Xu Yanqiu who accompanied them all the way to the Chengyang Army, and took great care of them in the army. But now, they are separated forever.
.
"Yanqiu...does he have parents or brothers?"
Chang Yu choked and shook his head: "No more... There was a drought in Yanqiu's hometown. His parents and relatives were all dead. He was a soldier who fled."
Li Xin'an murmured to himself: "No one is even here to report the funeral..."
"Yanqiu killed Yelvzong, he is the hero of the Tang Dynasty." Sanyu picked up Xu Yanqiu's body and put it on his horse.
He wanted to pull Yelvzong's head off Xu Yanqiu's hands, but he couldn't do it, so he had to give up.
"Brother, let's... go home!"
The group took Xu Yanqiu's body and returned south to the Tang Army's garrison.
…
Three days later, Tang Jun held a grand funeral.
To commemorate the soldiers of the Tang Army who died in the battle this time.
One by one, the spiritual tablets were placed on the altar. Meng Guoliang, Fang Ping, Lan Zuxing, Zhang Zhongyou, Xu Yanqiu, Yin Ying... Familiar names passed by the eyes of Bai Wenxi and Pei Min, which made these two soldiers who had been in the army for half a century.
The old man couldn't help but cover his face and cry.
The flames engulfed the altar, and the corpses were eventually burned into a pile of ashes, taking away their lives and the spirit of strangers.
"It's time to retreat." Pei Min sighed, "Shuai Bai, I finally understand what you think. We should never have a positive attitude towards war. We won this battle, but we paid so much
The lives of many people, ours and the Khitan’s, are not worth it.”
"It has been undesirable to resort to force since ancient times." Bai Wenxi said in a deep voice, "The Central Army still wants to continue its advance, but an order has been sent to send Commander Pei back."
Pei Min smiled bitterly and said: "Once the elite of our Chengyang army is destroyed, we will no longer have the strength to fight anymore and will not go back."
The two looked at each other and smiled. Bai Wenxi sighed and said, "I have already written a memorial about the collusion between the Khitan and An Lushan and handed it over."
"There is a high probability... ah no, it will definitely fall into the hands of Yang Guozhong." Pei Min said, "The saint is invisible."
"The traitorous ministers are in power and the people are in dire straits." Bai Wenxi suddenly cursed, "Damn it, I really want An Lushan to rebel quickly so that he can wake up the saint. If he continues to ignore political affairs like this, the Tang Dynasty will be over."
With Pei Min here, Bai Wenxi's words only fell in his ears and did not spread.
"Speaking of which, I really didn't expect that Chi Qianshu would be by your side." Pei Min said, "How did you keep this great master of Longhu Mountain by your side?"
Bai Wenxi smiled: "His apprentice and my little daughter are in love."
"Using your own daughter as a threat?" Pei Min looked contemptuous.
"Of course not. It was just for his apprentice that I broke off my daughter's engagement. Chi Qianshu felt bad about it, so she stayed with me."
"Where are they now?"
"Let's go, save my life, and return to the Central Plains after getting off the battlefield."