At the foot of Mawei Slope, in this endless river valley plain, smoke and dust are flying all around.
Everywhere there is smoke and dust, there are dozens of cavalry fighting in dogfights.
The cavalry of the Fengxiang Army are trying their best to ensure the safety of the large troops marching, at least to give the main force a reaction time in armor.
The cavalry of the Guiyi Army were also extremely fierce. In addition to fighting with the Fengxiang Army's cavalry, they also penetrated the blockade of the Fengxiang Army's cavalry from time to time to harass the main force of the Fengxiang Army's formation.
So tired that Li Congyan had to let some of the infantry take turns wearing armor and guarding them with strong bows and crossbows. They walked a full day and a half for a distance of only thirty miles.
The more this happened, the more Li Congzuo dared not rest. He judged that the Hexi Army must be attacking Li Congzhao in Xingping County, otherwise so many cavalry would not have appeared to desperately delay his march.
"Liu Sima! Tell me, if you can get to Xingping County today, I will give you a reward of 10,000 guan!"
After killing the bandits in Hexi, we will not take away any of their horses, armor, or a certain horse, and give them all to the men!"
After hearing Li Congzhen's instructions, Fengxiang Jiedushi named Liu sent troops to the army and quickly arranged for someone to report it.
There were thunderous cheers for a while, and words of "Thank you, Your Majesty for the generous reward" were everywhere. Feng Xiangjun also seemed to be wound up, and his pace suddenly accelerated.
Li Congyao looked forward and backward on his horse and saw that the world was filled with mighty soldiers of Fengxiang Army.
He was quite proud that he had brought over ten thousand people from Wugong County, and the Yanei Mabu Commander of the Xiongwu Army also brought 3,500 people to help in the battle.
The two parties add up to a total of 14,000 people. There are also 7,000 people in Xingping County. Even if there are some losses, there are still 5,000 people.
This is an army of nearly 20,000 people. The Hexi Xiaotong headquarters only has more than 8,000 soldiers and horses. Even if they get some prisoners, they only have more than 10,000 soldiers.
Moreover, most of the prisoners had old ties to the Li family. It was hard to predict that King Li Qi would be able to recruit thousands of people before the battle without fighting.
"With this heroic army! Like a tiger fighting a rabbit, victory is certain!"
After finishing this arithmetic problem, Li Congyao, who had inherited Li Maozhen's cunning, cunning and winning over people's skills, but not much military talent, couldn't help but shake his head and look arrogant.
Unfortunately, not long after he finished speaking, the changes on the battlefield in the distance put a black mark on King Li's face.
Once we passed Mawei Slope, the ground was covered with all kinds of fallen clothes, not to mention fragments of carriages and horses, and from time to time, a few corpses belonging to Feng Xiangjun were dug out.
Obviously, Li Congzhao was ambushed here.
The cavalry battle in the distance has also reached a fever pitch. More and more cavalrymen are returning to the rebel army. The range of activities of the Fengxiang army's cavalry has been reduced to two or three miles, which is already in a somewhat dangerous situation.
Moreover, a cavalry group of more than 200 Guiyi soldiers had just broken in not far from Li Congsuo, shocking King Li Qi.
"Your Majesty, something is wrong. There are too many Hexi cavalry in front of us. I'm afraid there may be thousands of them.
Judging from the number of soldiers in Hexi, there is no way that they can still have so many people to delay us when we besiege Xingping County!"
After the cavalry of the Guiyi Army appeared near Li Congyan for a while, Li Congyan's brother-in-law, Lu Duan, the commander of Fengxiang Army's Zuoma Budu, galloped over and said.
As one of the pillars of the Fengxiang Army's force, Lu Duan not only married Li Congyao's sister, but the Lu family was also from a wealthy Fengxiang family and was trusted by Li Congyao.
"Then Shiro thinks that the Hexi Army did not besiege Xingping County?"
Li Congyao asked, although he has no military talent, he has one advantage, that is, he can't pretend to understand.
"Your Majesty, I think that the Hexi Army is probably trying to encircle the area for reinforcements. They are pretending to attack Xingping County, but they are really trying to ambush us on the way with more cavalry!"
"I second the proposal!" Liu Sima on the side heard what Lu Duan said and also raised his hand to Li Congyao and said.
"Sanshijun has 7,000 troops in Xingping County, and the troops in Hexi are no more than 10,000 at most.
There is a saying in the Art of War: "The method of using troops is to surround an enemy by ten, attack it by five, and fight it if it is doubled. If the enemy is small, it can be fought, if it is small, it can escape, and if it is small, it can be avoided. Therefore, the small enemy is strong,
It is also the capture of a powerful enemy.'
The Hexi Army besieged Xingping County with less than twice its strength. This is because Xingping County has a small defense. If it can't be done, it can still dedicate thousands of horses to delay us!"
Li Congyao thought for a while, and it seemed that this was the case, "Then according to what Shiro and Liu Sima said, should our army advance or retreat?"
Lu Duan pondered for a moment, and then said firmly: "We have traveled thirty miles now, there is absolutely no reason to retreat, but it is not advisable to go further.
This place is less than 20 miles away from Xingping County, and an hour for a fast horse is enough for a round trip. Our army might as well set up camp here near the mountains and rivers, and then send a fast horse to take the mountain path to Xingping County to find out what's going on.
Make plans again.
If the Hexi Army really wants to encircle the area for reinforcements, I should order my third brother to mobilize the Xingping County Army and attack me from both front and back, so that they will never come back!"
"Okay!" Li Congyao clapped his hands, "Although the Hexi people have many cavalry, it is impossible to block all the mountain roads. We will wait here to see what tricks he can come up with."
....
Zhang Zhao stood on the Mawei slope and sighed. Li Maozhen and his son were able to stay in Fengxiang for decades. In history, the Li family is one of the few warlords in the five generations whose father, son, and grandson can all have a good death. It is true that they have capable people to help them.
!
"Order Murong Nobunaga, Li Yanli, and Li Zhongchao to join forces and eliminate the cavalry in front of Fengxiang Army.
Ma Yaozi led Hanhai Town on the right, Zhao Cunyi and Luo Shande (Mountain Zhuer) led Yucheng Town on the left, forming a large infantry formation.
Tiger assassin, Guo Guangcheng led 800 cavalry to Xingping County to capture and kill all the bandits who entered Xingping County. If Li Congzhao dares to come out of Xingping County, he will intercept them at any cost!"
"Here!" All the generals hurried down to perform their duties, while Zhang Zhao led the Shandu guards in the middle as the main force in the infantry battle.
This will be a fierce battle again, because Zhang Zhao cannot let Li Congyan's Fengxiang army set up a stronghold.
If he really wants to stand up, and if he and Li Congzhao of Xingping County attack Zhang Zhao from behind, he will have no other choice but to spit out the baggage he just obtained and return to Qianzhou.
"Your Majesty, please look! There is indeed an ambush! The Hexi Army is coming!"
On the Fengxiang Army side, they also saw the Guiyi Army coming out with great fanfare. Thousands of soldiers and horses slowly came out from behind Mawei Slope, and the military formation was tight.
"What a thief!" Li Congyao cursed, and then shouted loudly.
"Order the rear army to approach quickly, and the front army to form a formation on the spot, to inform the Song capital Yuhou, and order him to come and join forces as soon as possible!"
Li Congyu's Fengxiang Army was arranged according to the front, middle and rear pattern. Two thousand people in the front army were the vanguard, 7,000 people in the middle army were the main force, and one thousand people in the rear army were responsible for the supplies and supplies.
The Xiongwu Army, consisting of 3,500 men, was led by the Yanei Ma Infantry Commander named Song, on their right.
Before the Guiyi Army came out from behind Mawei Slope, Murong Nobunaga and others drove away all the Fengxiang Army cavalry in the front and occupied a slightly higher gentle slope.
As soon as the Guiyi Army arrived, they immediately had the advantage of being at a commanding height. However, the gentle slope was too gentle, so the advantage was not great.
After a few orders, the Guiyi army's towns, camps, capitals, generals' recognition flags, gold and drums were all arranged in place.
According to the organization, the soldiers of each department arranged a standard crane wing formation with cavalry on the two wings and infantry in the middle.
The Fengxiang Army is similar. The generals on both sides are veterans with many years of experience. No one can think of tricking the other. They all directly set up this type of formation that mainly focuses on frontal decisive battles with infantry.
However, the Fengxiang Army did not have enough cavalry, so they placed some crossbowmen on both wings to guard against the Guiyi Army's cavalry attack.
‘Dea De De!’ A cavalryman with a white flag galloped out of Feng Xiang’s formation, reined in his horse and stood up in front of the two formations.
Don't get me wrong, he is not here to surrender, this white flag means that he is a messenger.
"King Li of Daqi, please answer Zhang Sikong in Hexi!" the cavalry general waved the white flag twice and shouted loudly. He was indeed a messenger.
This is quite new. Li Congyao is quite old-fashioned. Zhang Zhao touched his nose and said to Murong Nobunaga and Li Cunhui beside him: "You two come with me!"
"Please lead the horse for Sikong!" Dunzhu on the side wore a helmet and armor. On the side of Hu Lu, there were four throwing spears stuck in it, and he was holding two more in his hand.
Zhang Zhao chuckled, "You have to run faster then!"
Dunzhu smiled knowingly, "Sikong, don't worry, my legs and feet are no slower than your Pegasus!"
....
Zhang Zhao was led by Dunzhu on his horse and came to the front of the two armies' formation. At this time, Li Congyao also slowly came over.
The two men led almost the same number of followers, Li Congyu led three Xiaoqi, while Zhang Zhao had Dunzhu and an infantryman leading horses.
"Zhang Sikong has been in Hexi for a long time. He may not know Chinese etiquette. Although it is loyal to quell the rebels, attacking and killing the soldiers of Prince Qi is a serious crime of treason!"
The fat Li Congyao felt unhappy when he saw Zhang Zhaojin's golden armor, and he said with a sneer.
Zhang Zhao's face turned cold. He had been in Hexi for a long time and didn't know Chinese etiquette. It was just that he was a Hu'er who didn't know etiquette, so he sneered.
"Although King Qi was in Guanzhong, he just sat back and watched the rebels wreak havoc. I wonder how many families were destroyed? How many people died? Such courtesy, I really don't know if I am in Hexi!"
Li Congzhen also looked cold. He was scolding him for not being as knowledgeable as Hexi Hu'er. He immediately raised his finger and pointed at Zhang Zhao and shouted.
"You are a little boy from Hexi. After pretending to be loyal and good, you won over people's hearts as soon as you entered Guanzhong. It is called to quell chaos, but in fact you have evil intentions.
I am an elder, and regardless of your recklessness, if you can retreat quickly, you may still be able to return to your hometown with your life!"
"Hmph! Your father and son have been in Fengxiang for decades, kidnapping the emperor, killing kings, and abusing the people. After being traitors, you still falsely claim to be a loyal elder. You are so shameless! You will be buried here today!"
Talking nonsense, who is afraid of whom!
"I don't know what's wrong!" Li Congyao waved his hand in a breathless manner, leading the three knights to turn around, but he squinted and winked at the three knights beside him.
Zhang Zhao also pretended to pull his horse and go back, but when he pulled the reins, he did not go back, but drove the horse forward.
At this moment, Zhang Zhao and Li Congyan were separated by about three to four hundred steps. As long as they rushed about two hundred steps, they would be within the range of the strong bow.
However, as soon as Zhang Zhao drove his horse forward, he saw the three knights led by Li Congzuo also chasing forward.
Well..........!
Both sides were immediately stunned by the other's shamelessness, and the air froze for a second.
After a brief surprise, the fighting began!
"Look at my amazing shot!" Murong Xinchang shouted, running at the front, firing three arrows in a row, all of which hit a member of the Fengxiang Army's Knight.
Although the knight wore two layers of armor, the long bow in Murong Nobunaga's hand was very powerful.
All three arrows hit him. Although they did not kill him, they still broke his armor. The knight screamed in pain and hurriedly ran back on his horse.
Another general and Li Cunhui fired two arrows at each other, but they missed. The two immediately abandoned their bows and started stabbing each other.
In the end, Li Cunhui was superior and beat the general until he vomited blood and fell off his horse.
Among the three brave generals, the one who charged directly at Zhang Zhao seemed to be more skilled and had a clear goal, which was to face Zhang Zhao.
But Zhang Zhao didn't care about him at all. After shouting "Dunzhu", he rode his horse and rushed towards Li Congyao.
After Dunzhu heard Zhang Zhao's greeting, he charged forward and threw two spears in his hands at a very fast speed. Hu Lu hit four spears, a total of six spears, all of which were thrown out in a few breaths.
This knight was originally here to deal with Zhang Zhao, but he didn't expect that Dunzhu, who didn't have a horse, could throw a spear, and he was powerful, heavy and accurate.
He was suddenly unprepared and had no choice but to scream. He was struck by three spears thrown by Dunzhu and was knocked off his horse.
Here Zhang Zhao has almost caught up with Li Congzuo, and what he has under his crotch is a bloody horse.
"Don't hurt my king!" At the same time, more than a dozen Fengxiang Army cavalrymen realized something was wrong and quickly came over to support.
Seeing that Fengxiang's army was coming out again, Zhang Zhao had no choice but to shoot three arrows in a row at more than a hundred steps.
But the first arrow missed directly, there was nothing I could do, my archery skills were not my strong point, Zhang Sikong.
The second arrow was much more accurate and flew past Li Congyao's head, causing His Highness King Qi to scream in fright.
The third arrow did hit the mark, but unfortunately it hit the horse's leg. The horse jolted violently, knocking Li Congsuo off.
Unfortunately, the cavalry of Fengxiang Army also arrived. Zhang Zhao did not dare to risk going over and stabbing him to death, so he could only pull his horse and go back.
At this moment, Murong Nobunaga and Li Cunhui also arrived, and they covered Zhang Zhao and ran back to the main formation.
"Kill him! Kill him for me!" Li Congyao yelled while lying on the ground.
Several personal guards went to help him up, only to see that King Li Qi had fallen down and his head was covered with dirt, and his crotch seemed to be slightly stained by water.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Because Wu Yanyan seems to be adding more updates to the hall master's ten thousand rewards, in fact, I have not added more rewards to many book friends. I would like to express my deep apology. As you all know, I am a scumbag who writes and updates now.
, if one day I write 30,000 words in anger, I will definitely make up for it with these rewards!