Chapter 121: The Wind Crosses the Yin Mountains and the Bank of the Yellow River (1)
Wu Lahai City was not big enough to accommodate 30,000 cavalry. Therefore, there was a large pasture in a mountain valley ten miles west of the city, where nearly half of the war horses were kept.
That night, a fire suddenly broke out there. The flames shot up into the sky and lit up half of the sky. Mouning Keren, wearing his coat and hat tilted, ran to the west gate tower in a panic and looked up.
Countless fires gathered together to form a large red curtain. The fire light danced, and countless shadows could be seen, whether they were people or horses, flashing in the red night sky.
Li Liangfu also arrived in a hurry.
His face was extremely ugly. As a general, he knew what happened and what it meant.
"Capital Commander..." Mouning Keren called out when he saw Li Liangfu.
"This general has sent people to investigate." Li Liangfu said in a low voice.
Half an hour passed, but the fire did not weaken. As the two of them waited uneasily, someone finally ran over panting.
"Young man, I've seen Du Tongjun!"
"Tell me, what happened in West Ranch?"
"A group of horse thieves attacked the west pasture. They were noticed by the defenders and the two sides fought. Seeing that they could not take advantage, the horse thieves became angry and set the haystack on fire, causing a fire."
Li Liangfu and Mou Ning Keren knew that this was half true and half false, but they didn't know whether it was the general of the West Ranch defenders who made it up to shirk responsibility, or whether the officer who made the report was benefited from and excused the West Ranch defenders.
In short, the current situation in West Ranch is not optimistic.
"Is this all there is?" Li Liangfu said coldly.
With all his power, he suppressed the officer who made the report and forced him to tell more about the situation.
The more you talk, the easier it is to find loopholes.
"The entire army was in command, but the defenders were unprepared and were taken advantage of by horse thieves. Somehow, those horse thieves accidentally ran into the forage yard."
The officer replied tremblingly.
Li Liangfu laughed angrily.
The fodder yard is the most important place in the pasture. It is dry and flammable, so it must be a place strictly guarded by the defenders. How could the horse thieves accidentally rush in and light a fire calmly, burning half the sky red?
You think I'm a fool!
"Do you know how many horse thieves there are?" Li Liangfu suppressed the anger in his heart. He must get detailed information about the West Ranch.
"There were more than a thousand people, all dressed as Tatars and speaking Tatar."
"More than a thousand people? Just over a thousand people, killing people and setting fires right under the noses of five thousand defenders? Are these five thousand defenders all lambs?" Li Liangfu couldn't hold back any longer and shouted with his eyes wide.
road.
Mouning Keren has long heard that this matter is not that simple. But now is not the time to hold people accountable.
"Where are those military horses? Where are the horses in the pasture?" Mouning Keren asked eagerly.
"When the fire broke out, the pasture was in chaos, and some of the army horses ran away."
Li Liangfu felt that his chest was about to explode with anger.
Did they run away? Some of the horses ran away? I'm afraid only a few of them were left. If there were no horses, my 30,000 cavalry would become an infantry army. How could I fight against Song's Suzaku Army?
"How many did you run away?" Li Liangfu roared angrily, scaring the officer who made the report to the point where he fell to his knees, his body shaking like chaff.
"The defenders are extinguishing the fire and taking inventory at the same time. The exact number is not known yet." He replied tremblingly.
"I'm angry!" Li Liangfu cursed, then turned around and walked away. As he walked, he said sternly: "Prepare your mounts and gather the guards. I'm going to the West Ranch to take a look at these bastards!"
Mouning Keren stood on the tower and turned his gaze from the west to the north. The west side was reflected red by the firelight, while the north and east sides were made even darker.
In his eyes, this darkness was like an endless black hole that was constantly expanding and would swallow everything up in the next moment.
A fire breaks out in the West Pasture? A thousand horse thieves can directly break through the defense of five thousand defenders, find the forage yard quickly and accurately, and then light a fire, causing huge chaos. Then more than 10,000 army horses escape in the chaos It has to be everywhere.
After thinking about these things together, the more Mouning Keren thought about it, the more wrong he became.
Someone knew the details of the Black Mountain Weifu Army clearly, and then prescribed the right medicine to hit the vital point.
Who knows the details of the Black Mountain Weifu Army so clearly? Is there an internal agent in the army? Mouning Keren suddenly thought of something and hurriedly ran to the post house.
He was panting and sweating, which startled the postman.
"Commander of the Army...what do you want to do with me?"
"Where are those Northern Liao merchants?"
"I left the day before yesterday."
"Everyone's gone?"
"Yes, they are all gone."
"Where have you gone?"
"Young ones, I don't know. They are all distinguished guests of the Dutong Army. How dare you ask?"
Yes, in Li Liangfu's eyes, those Northern Liao businessmen were the gods of wealth, and they were very respectful and polite on weekdays. When the people below saw them, they were all respectful and did not dare to show any slights.
Although these Northern Liao merchants could speak Khitan and had the unique arrogance of the Khitan people, Mouning Keren believed that most of these people were fake people from the Song Dynasty.
They used their identity as Khitans and relied on the trust of the commander-in-chief Li Liangfu to act tyrannically. The key points of Wu Lahai City and the Weifu Army in Heishan were undefended for them, inside and outside, up and down. They can all be seen clearly.
"It's on fire! There's a fire on Nanfengcheng Ranch!" Someone suddenly called out.
Mouning Keren was shocked and felt that a disaster was imminent.
He hurried to the south gate tower and looked south.
To the south of Wu La Hai City, across the North Branch of the Yellow River, there is a castle built on the ruins of Yong Feng City in the former Tang Dynasty. It is called Nanfeng Castle and is connected to Wu La Hai City by a pontoon bridge.
Since Nanfeng Castle was protected by the North Branch of the Yellow River, Li Liangfu used it as a logistics and supplies base. Thousands of horses and most of the grain, grass and ordnance were placed in Nanfeng Castle and guarded by three thousand defenders.
Twenty or thirty miles away, Mouning Keren couldn't see the details over there. He could only see the flames soaring into the sky, and Nanfeng Castle seemed to have turned into a huge bonfire.
In the dancing firelight, Mouning Keren seemed to see countless figures swaying among them, and seemed to hear countless shrill screams carried by the strong wind.
Nanfeng Castle was attacked!
This was the first thought that popped into Mouning Keren's mind.
Who attacked Nanfeng Castle? The answer immediately popped into Mouning Keren's mind: the Suzaku Army of the Song Dynasty.
"It is as fast as the wind, and its invasion is like fire."
Mouning Keren knew that what he was most worried about had happened. The Suzaku Army of the Song Dynasty went south silently. The news that he had sworn before was besieged by Kile and Tatar tribes and trapped in the Mobei grassland... It's all fake!
It can be believed that these false news were concocted by people with deliberate intentions, specifically to deceive Li Liangfu. However, he was so greedy for profit that he actually believed it.
What about me? At first, I wanted to secretly recruit people to go north. Due to the continuous fighting there and the extremely dangerous situation, and the commander-in-chief Li Liangfu strictly prohibited people from going north, no one was willing to take the huge risk to recruit people. Why didn't I insist on it at that time?
Promising huge sums of money and huge profits?
But it was too late.
At five o'clock in the morning, the fire in the west pasture finally became smaller, but the fire in Nanfeng Castle burned more and more fiercely. Even the pontoon bridge connecting the north and the south was set on fire by the enemy, and the connection was completely lost.
Li Liangfu came back with a dark face. Judging from his appearance, the losses in West Ranch must have been very heavy.
There was still a strong smell of blood on his body, and he must have killed the general who defended the West Ranch in anger.
But what's the use!
"Report!" A scout horse galloped from the north.
Li Liangfu sent hundreds of spies within a hundred miles north of Wu Lahai City to detect the troops coming from the north and east day and night. Perhaps this was the only thing he did right.
"A large group of people are coming from the north!" The detective horse was covered in blood, with a few arrows stuck in its back. "Their detective horses are very powerful. They snuck up on us all silently, and then they picked up most of the spies in the dark."
Killed. I...I ran out under everyone's desperate cover."
"How many people?"
"There are tens of thousands of troops in the vanguard."
"Did you see the flag?"
"Strange flag."
"Isn't it the Suzaku Flag?"
"There is a Suzaku flag. Before he died, a companion told me that he saw another flag under the moonlight, a snake and a black turtle intertwined."
"Xuanwu Banner." Mouning Keren said in despair: "The Song army reorganized the Xuanwu Banner in Mobei, and then mobilized their troops to move south."
Li Liangfu, who looked complicated, and Mou Ning Keren looked to the north together.
The sun slowly rose in the northeast, and the golden sunlight pierced the sky and spread in all directions. Between the sky and the earth, I saw endless black cavalry, wearing golden armor, coming slowly. This chapter has been completed!
