Chapter 245: Sweet Potato's Life Story, Xu Xiao Sends Troops to Shangfang Valley

Mao Rou was known as the great general, but in fact he had no experts in his mansion, and hundreds of Jinyiwei easily wiped out the entire Mao family.

After taking the general's military token and bribing the prime minister of Dunhuang City in advance, as long as he forced the palace maid and the city lord, Dunhuang City would be taken.

Late at night, in the palace of Dunhuang City.

The Jinyiwei spies opened the palace gate, and the Dunhuang Jinwu Guards, who were on high alert, faced a large number of enemies.

The enemies of the Jinwu Guard included the Tang King's Jinyi Guard and the private soldiers of the guide party such as Wang Yan, totaling about three thousand.

The 30,000 troops in the city have been stabilized by the general's military talisman. The only obstacle now is the 500 Jinwu guards loyal to the female city lord and the Mao family.

Suddenly a head was thrown into the crowd of Jinwu Guards. Mao Rou's head looked even more hideous under the moonlight.

"Mao Rou is dead, the Mao family has been wiped out, and those in the Jinwu Guard who are not surnamed Mao will not be killed if they surrender!"

Several leaders of the Jinwu Guards were members of the Mao family, and their legs went weak when they saw Mao Rou's head.

Hongshu continued, "The 30,000 soldiers in the city have surrendered, and all the generals of the Mao family have been executed!"

"Jinwu Guards, quickly kill the Mao family and make them surrender to the King of Tang, otherwise the entire family will be executed!"

Prime Minister Wang Yan knew that his chance to show off had come, and he quickly chimed in, "Brothers of the Jinwu Guards, this Lord Song is the city lord's niece and the city lord's true successor!"

"Although she is from the Tang Palace, surrendering to her is not considered betrayal."

These Jinwu Guards are all tough guys in the army, and have been loyal to the female city lord for decades. They are all prepared to fight to the death.

But after hearing these soft and hard tactics, many people have been shaken.

Firstly, no one wants to bring disaster to their family, and secondly, this is the family affair of the female city lord, so their surrender is not considered betrayal.

Some of the older Jinwu Guards had already recognized Hongshu. When Hongshu was in Dunhuang City, his name was Song Xiaoyu.

"She is Lord Song, the city lord's niece..."

Several generals with the surname Mao sensed subtle changes in the Jinwu Guard team and felt the coming of a crisis.

"Your Majesty has decreed that those who put down the rebellion will be promoted three levels! Those who surrender without permission..."

The general's voice suddenly stopped, and several sharp ring-handled knives pierced through his chest, and blood gushed out!

puff!puff!puff!
After several shrill screams, all the generals with the surname Mao were killed by the Jinwu Guards. The remaining Jinwu Guards threw away their weapons and knelt down in surrender.

"Sir Song! We are willing to submit to the King of Tang!"

The Jinwu Guards were captured without bloodshed, and these people could also be incorporated into the Jinyi Guards. Hongshu was very satisfied with this result.

"Wang Yan, send your men to capture them and keep them under strict guard."

Wang Yan smiled flatteringly and said yes repeatedly, "Yes, Master Song!"

Hongshu and Xue Songguan stepped into the inner palace, and at the same time reminded, "Don't hurt their lives."

Wang Yan quickly gave up the idea of ​​waiting for an opportunity to take revenge and kept expressing his loyalty.

In the inner city hall of Dunhuang City, the female lord of Dunhuang City sat alone on the throne.

The crow's feet at the corners of the female city lord's eyes are big enough to feed a few fish, but her delicate appearance is still quite charming.

"Humph, you are really lucky. You didn't die in the Beiliang Palace, but was taken in by the Tang King."

Hongshu walked to the imperial steps, looked at the empress's dragon robe and throne, and a hint of mockery crossed his lips.

"Your dragon robe is just a lie to yourself. How can you be considered a female emperor?"

The female city lord looked at Hongshu's eyebrows and her expression became more and more complicated.

"You and your mother are really alike. Even your fates are so similar."

"Even if Li Changan can't defeat the Northern Mang, he is still strong enough to compete with the Liyang Northern Mang. He will definitely own one third of the world."

"If... you were not her daughter, and Li Changan became the emperor, you would be the queen."

"What a pity...Hahaha, do you think Li Changan doesn't know about this?"

There was a hint of madness and gloating in the female city lord's voice, and there was also a barely perceptible hint of loneliness in Hongshu's eyes.

Xue Songguan glanced at Hongshu's back in surprise. No wonder Hongshu had no confidence in being a princess. It turned out that she had the bloodline of the Queen of Beimang.

In Xue Songguan's opinion, given Li Changan's favor and attention to Hongshu, it is obvious that he wants to make Hongshu his principal wife.

However, would Li Changan make the descendant of the empress of the enemy country his queen? This does not seem appropriate.

"I am just a hostage you threw in Beiliang, an assassin for Beimang Tianxianglou, and I have never thought of becoming a princess or queen."

"But no matter what I do, I won't embroider a dragon robe like you did to deceive yourself."

"Aunt, it's time to wake up from the dream of being an empress. You can only be you. You are not as good as her, and you can never become her!"

"You just need to abdicate, and I will let you live out your life in peace."

Hongshu's words were so heartbreaking that they stabbed the city lord's soft spot. The city lord's face turned ashen in an instant.

She slowly stood up and walked in front of Hongshu. The two somewhat similar faces were only a few inches away from each other.

"They are indeed mother and daughter. You have such a vicious mouth. But don't worry, even if I die, I will still be the Queen of Dunhuang."

After the female city lord finished speaking, she slowly walked towards the entrance of the hall, outside of which stood the Jinyiwei who were on high alert.

"Shh!"

Hundreds of Jinyiwei drew out their embroidered spring swords at the same time and stared at the female lord of Dunhuang with cold eyes.

"What a pity that I didn't see that bitch die first..."

The female city lord had no expression on her face, but blood had already started to flow from all her orifices, obviously having swallowed a deadly poison beforehand.

The figure in the dragon robe fell backwards with a loud bang. She eventually died as the Empress of Dunhuang City. The only regret was that she did not see Empress Murong of Beimang die first.

Hongshu frowned and looked at the body of his aunt, feeling mixed emotions.

She still doesn't know about the entanglement between the female city lord and Empress Murong, and this aunt has no affection for her.

"Bury her properly, confiscate her property and intelligence, and seal the inner palace, awaiting your Highness' disposal."

Afterwards, the Embroidered Uniform Guards began to search the imperial palace, and Dunhuang City was finally incorporated into the territory of Shazhou, and all seven counties of Shazhou were recovered.

Jiange Pass.

The Tang army and the Walang tribe of Guanyin in White attacked from both inside and outside, and the Liyang army suffered heavy casualties, and was about to break through.

On top of the city wall, Huo Qubing and Gu Jiantang fought for more than an hour, but there was still no winner.

Gu Jiantang wanted to launch a surprise attack on Huo Qubing's army behind the city wall alone, and open a passage for his remaining troops to retreat to Liyang.

"Gu Jiantang, Xishu and Qingzhou all belong to my king, where can your remaining troops escape to?"

Gu Jiantang felt distressed when he saw the precarious Jiange Pass. These tens of thousands of elite soldiers were all his direct troops.

After his defeat, the number of troops that the Liyang court could control would be exceeded by the number of vassal kings in various places.

The Liyang court, which had just unified the world less than twenty years ago, was obviously about to split again.

King Tang Li Changan has already openly rebelled, and King Yan Chi and King Beiliang have heavy troops under their command and are even more out of control.

"The King of Tang is doing this to plunge the world into war and division again! Is he, Li Changan, going to be a sinner for all eternity?"

Huo Qubing could not help but sneer, "The Liyang imperial court sent five armies to encircle Shazhou, and now the villains are the first to complain."

"Besides, your Liyang Dynasty is strong on the outside but weak on the inside. Not only did you fail to eliminate the great threat of Beimang, you can't even suppress Beiliang. If you allow the Emperor of the Zhao family to rule the Dragon Court, Tai'an City may be trampled by the Beimang cavalry one day."

"It is better for such a court to perish sooner rather than later!"

Huo Qubing's spear was as strong as a dragon, and his powerful true energy swept across heaven and earth. The confrontation between the warriors at the celestial realm was enough to change the color of heaven and earth.

While the two were fighting fiercely, suddenly bursts of Buddhist chanting sounds were heard from above the city wall, and the large banner on the city wall was changed from Li Yang to the Tang army's Li-shaped banner.

It was obvious that the monks of White-robed Guanyin had already broken into the pass. The defenders of Liyang were either dead or surrendered, and it was impossible for anyone to escape.

Gu Jiantang's face turned pale and he was filled with despair. He and Zhao Kai led an army of 100,000 into the territory, and there were still 60,000 soldiers at Jiange Pass.

A total of 160,000 troops have now been wiped out by Li Changan, and both West Shu and Qingzhou have fallen into Li Changan's hands.

The original intention was to recapture Shazhou, but now they have suffered heavy losses and disastrous defeat, allowing Li Changan to become stronger again.

Even if Beimang and Beiliang could defeat Li Changan, the Liyang Dynasty would not be able to gain any benefits.

Not only was the Liyang Dynasty unable to gain any benefits from the northwest, it also had to face even greater internal disputes. Gu Jiantang even considered committing suicide.

However, when he thought of the heavenly eunuchs in Tai'an City and the Imperial Observatory that could invite gods to descend to earth, some hope arose in his heart.

Even if the northwest and southwest are lost, it should not be difficult for the Liyang Dynasty to retain its heartland in the Central Plains.

With this thought in mind, Gu Jiantang lost interest in fighting and turned to flee to the east.

This great general of the Liyang Dynasty lost 160,000 men, two states, a King of Shu and a national teacher, and fled back to Tai'an City alone.

In Jiange Pass, the three groups of people, including White-robed Guanyin, Huo Qubing and Zhao Dingxiu, finally met up.

According to Zhuge Liang's arrangement, Zhao Dingxiu took the remnants of the old Western Shu and the old Western Chu to the two states to appease the people.

Huo Qubing sat in the main seat and quickly arranged the tasks according to the secret letter sent by the Jinyiwei.

A great war was about to break out in the north, and Huo Qubing could not help but feel anxious.

"White-robed Guanyin, take your five thousand monks and another thirty thousand cavalrymen and head north to Yanjia Lake as quickly as possible."

"Your Highness has issued a strict order that we must arrive within five days!"

The White-robed Guanyin couldn't help but be a little surprised. Jiange Pass was a thousand miles away from Yanjia Lake in the north.

A forced march of a thousand miles in five days meant that even the most elite Walangi cavalry had to travel day and night, with only two or three hours of rest each day.

Huo Qubing continued, "You should select elite soldiers now. My five thousand white horse volunteers and thirty thousand Tang cavalry will also go north with you."

White-robed Guanyin dared not disobey Li Changan's orders at all. The Waleng tribe could have its current status thanks to Li Changan's support.

As long as the Walang tribe showed any sign of disobedience, Li Changan could immediately turn to support the Yage tribe and completely destroy Walang and the Red Sect. Bai Yi Guanyin often secretly felt sad about Li Changan's ruthlessness. As a woman with whom he had physical contact, Li Changan treated her completely as a subordinate.

"The Walang tribe has received the order. I will go and select the most elite cavalry now."

If it were not for the most elite cavalry, it would be impossible to keep up with the marching speed of Huo Qubing's warrior army.

After the White-robed Guanyin left, Huo Qubing continued to say to Zhao Dingxiu, "Sir Zhao, His Highness has appointed you as the governor of West Shu Road. I hope you will take good care of yourself."

Zhao Dingxiu had worked diligently in Shazhou for several years, and his loyalty to Li Changan had long since reached the level of deathless loyalty.

If at the beginning this old minister of Western Shu still had some thoughts of restoring his country, now it is completely gone.

Now, the old officials of Western Shu and Western Chu, led by Zhao Dingxiu, have become crazy supporters of Li Changan's enthronement and founding of a country.

They gave up on restoring their country, but they did not give up the idea of ​​overthrowing the Liyang court.

Of course, there were some stubborn restorationists among these people, but they had long been dealt with by people secretly sent by Li Changan.

Zhao Dingxiu cupped his hands and said, "General Huo, rest assured. I will definitely protect the West Shu Road for Your Highness. As long as I am here, the West Shu Road will be here!"

Another old official of Western Chu expressed the same attitude. Huo Qubing continued to make arrangements, "I will only leave 10,000 men to guard Jiange. You need to recruit soldiers from Western Shu and Qingzhou by yourselves."

"Your Highness does not ask much of you. As long as you can defend the state capital and the county, you will be considered to have made contributions to the country!"

In these two states, Huo Qubing destroyed the Liyang army, but left only a small number of soldiers to guard the weapons and money and food.

The purpose of sending these civil servants to take up their posts was to allow them to recruit soldiers locally and protect these places.

Because Li Changan now has limited military forces, he must concentrate his forces to defeat Beimang and Beiliang. Xishu and Qingzhou are not core interests now.

These old ministers began to express their determination one by one, and then left with full confidence.

The next day, Huo Qubing led more than 70,000 cavalrymen across Liangzhou and rushed to Yanjia Lake.

At this moment, in the north of Yanjia Lake, on the southern plain of the Rouran Five Towns, Li Cunxiao was ready to engage in battle with Gong Pu.

Laohuai, Rouxuan, Jilu, Gaoque and Wuchuan are the five towns of Rouran. To the north of the five towns is the Rouran Mountains, and above the mountains is the Tibing Mountain, the main sect of Beimang.

The leader of Tibing Mountain, Diwu He, died in Shazhou Lang, and the person in charge now is the former deputy leader Gong Pu.

As a great war was about to begin, two calm figures stood on the Rouran Mountains.

It seemed as if the war and blood flowing like rivers a few miles away had nothing to do with them.

An old man with white hair and beard, a slightly weathered look on his face, and a pair of old eyes that were not cloudy, but seemed to be able to see through everything.

The woman in yellow was riding on the back of a giant panda, playing with a willow branch in her hand, watching the war that was about to break out with boredom.

This old man is none other than Huang Longshi, who is known as the top three in chess, calligraphy, and mathematics in the Spring and Autumn Period. He is also the mastermind behind all chess games in the world.

In the original novel, many of the wars in the Spring and Autumn Period were instigated by him, and he also spread some of the martial arts luck into the martial arts world, which later gave rise to the martial arts world with dozens of land immortals.

Huang Longshi's goal is to rule the world and free the martial arts world and the human world from the control of the immortals in heaven.

The woman in yellow is his adopted daughter, Miss Hehe, a world-famous killer.

"Old man, the situation in the world seems to be different from what you expected."

Huang Longshi frowned and said worriedly, "It's not just different, it's completely different."

"This Li Changan has absorbed too much luck, preventing many masters who could have become land immortals from advancing."

“However, what he wants to do is to make the human world free from the fishing of the immortals in the sky, which coincides with what I think.”

Miss Hehe is as her name suggests. "Hehe, I heard that after Li Changan broke through to the Earthly Immortal level, Wang Xianzhi was ready to go north to cause trouble for him."

"The second best in the world has always been against closing the Heavenly Gate. He wants to provide a path for warriors in the world to reach a higher level."

"A warrior should pursue the highest realm, break through the earthly immortals and enter the heavenly realm. After reaching the heavenly realm, he can continue to practice!"

Huang Longshi disagreed and said, "The immortals in heaven are fishing for the fortune of the human world. What they hope most is that the world cannot be unified, and it would be best if it were to be torn into pieces."

"It's no secret that Li Changan wants to close Tianmen. Wang Xianzhi will certainly not agree, so there will be a battle between them."

Hehe, the girl asked again, "Old man, who do you want to help?"

Huang Longshi shook his head. "I am the chess player behind the scenes. How can I play in person?"

Hehe, the girl laughed so hard that she fell backwards. "It's obvious that you can't beat either of them, but you talk so high-soundingly."

Huang Longshi was silent. Li Changan was disrupting his plan, but Li Changan's idea of ​​closing the Tianmen was the same as his, so he really wanted to watch the fire from the other side of the river and see what Li Changan was going to do.

"Old man, I'm going to kill Xu Fengnian and change his fate of dying tragically before the age of thirty and being cursed for eternity."

Hehe, when the girl was a child, Xu Fengnian paid for her mother's burial, so she regarded Xu Fengnian as her benefactor.

However, Huang Longshi calculated that Xu Fengnian had a bad fate and would be disgraced and die miserably before the age of thirty.

"Since it is fate, it is not so easy to change it."

"You can go, but if you can't kill him, don't force it."

Hehe, the girl patted the giant panda with her legs and then ran out.

"There is no one I cannot kill."

At the foot of Rouran Mountain, a hundred thousand cavalrymen were filled with murderous intent.

Li Cunxiao on the opposite side had 5,000 Black Armored Army, more than 30,000 ordinary Shazhou cavalry, and 20,000 grassland cavalry from the Huyan tribe, a total of nearly 70,000 people.

In the hundreds of years since the demise of Dafeng, it has always been the Northern Mang cavalry that went south, and the Central Plains cavalry has never gone north.

Gong Pu led the way, holding a spear full of murderous intent, "Southern Barbarian, how dare you provoke the Rouran cavalry!"

"Even that old bastard Xu Xiao has never set foot in the Rouran Mountains. Are you guys tired of living?"

Li Cunxiao held a horse spear in his hand and laughed contemptuously, "Gong Pu, Hong Jingyan and Diwu He all died in Shazhou. Now it's your turn."

"What Xu Xiao doesn't dare to do, King Tang will do! Whoever Xu Xiao doesn't dare to kill, King Tang will kill!"

Gong Pu still had confidence as he looked at the Rouran cavalry behind him, which had never been defeated in any battle.

Although Li Changan's Black Armor Army defeated the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry, in the eyes of the arrogant Rouran cavalry, the cavalry of the Central Plains Dynasty were vulnerable!
"Rou Ran warriors, follow me and kill them!"

"Whoever conquers Shazhou and kills Li Changan will be crowned king!"

Gong Pu shouted the empress's decree and rushed out first.

The power of the Rouran cavalry increased greatly, and on the battle line of more than ten miles, the cavalry began to charge!
This was a large-scale cavalry clash that had not happened in hundreds of years, with 170,000 cavalry charging on the grassland!

"Men of the Tang Army, today is the time to expand our territory!"

At Li Cunxiao's command, the Black Armor Army rushed out first!
These warriors, almost all of whom have reached the third rank, are like five thousand hungry and thirsty butchers!

This group of elite soldiers who have experienced the baptism of war several times have long been eager for such a major battle.

The powerful fighting spirit once again condensed into a dark fighting spirit celestial phenomenon, and fiercely rushed into the Rouran cavalry.

Hong Jingyan, who was able to gather the fighting spirit among the Rouran cavalry, had died in the barren mountains of Shazhou and had lost the initiative in the stage of fighting spirit confrontation.

The dark black dragon galloped among the Rouran cavalry, crushing them one by one!
Afterwards, the vanguard Black Armor Army charged into the enemy camp and began killing indiscriminately!
A third-rank old soldier in black armor can kill three or four elite Rouran cavalrymen with a single swing of his lance!
Such powerful fighting power and will caused the Rouran Cavalry to suffer a brief chaos, but as the most capable cavalry on the grassland in decades, the Rouran Cavalry quickly stabilized their formation.

A head-on clash of ace against ace begins again!

"The Tang King's Black Armor Army is the best in the world!"

The soldiers of the Black Armor Army became braver and more excited as the battle went on. They were like a sharp and thick nail, embedding themselves into the Rouran cavalry.

Hundreds of cavalrymen died with every breath. The grassland was gradually shrouded in a thick smell of blood, and the corpses of men and horses and their blood covered the lush weeds.

The killing at the foot of Rouran Mountain turned it into a living hell!

Lingzhou, the garrison of the Northern Liang army.

Xu Xiao received the latest military intelligence report, and a hint of life finally appeared on his gloomy face.

Beside him were Xu Yanbing, Yuan Zuozong and Xu Fengnian.

Xu Fengnian told Xu Xiao that he had broken through to the first level. Xu Xiao was excited to see that Xu Fengnian had regained his spirits.

This is also the reason why he lowered his face to write a letter to Empress Murong. He wanted to help Xu Fengnian lay a better foundation.

Seeing Li Changan's rise, chaos was about to break out in the world. With 200,000 soldiers and horses in hand, his Xu family was not without the capital to compete for the world.

There was often a heroic gleam in his son Xu Fengnian's eyes, making Xu Xiao seem ten years younger.

"Everyone, there is news from the north."

"Li Cunxiao and Gong Pu are fighting in Rouran Mountain. Dong Zhuo's troops have not yet assembled and are planning to attack Li Changan's Yanjia Lake camp in advance!"

According to the original plan, King Dong Zhuo of the Southern Court assembled 300,000 troops and joined forces with 100,000 cavalry from the Rouran, and then had a decisive battle with Li Changan.

However, Li Changan first sent Li Cunxiao to attack the Rouran cavalry, leaving the Yanjia Lake camp empty.

Xu Fengnian nodded and said, "This Dong Zhuo is quite foresighted and courageous. He dared to disobey the empress's order and attack Li Changan's camp in advance."

"But Li Changan has as many troops as we do. Maybe the Yanjia Lake camp is not empty, but there is another ambush."

Xu Xiao said, "Huo Qubing and White-robed Guanyin have just defeated Gu Jiantang in the south, and Zhuge Liang and Gu Dazu's 100,000 troops are tied up in Liangzhou by us."

"This time Dong Zhuo invited us to jointly attack the Yanjia Lake camp. We will definitely be able to capture Li Changan alive!"

Xu Xiao, who had judged the timing of the battlefield over the years, pointed to Yanjia Lake on the map and said, "I plan to lead 60,000 elite cavalry to Yanjia Lake overnight and attack Li Changan's camp together with Dong Zhuo!"

Yuan Zuozong and Xu Fengnian took a look at the map and found that after leaving Beilaoguan, they were not far from Yanjia Lake.

Xu Fengnian said with some concern, "Huo Qubing's army is marching very fast, and Zhuge Liang may also send reinforcements. Dong Zhuo's move is a bit risky."

Xu Xiao nodded with satisfaction, "Feng Nian is right, so the opportunity is fleeting, so we must not miss it."

"Li Changan is too weird. If we don't seize this opportunity to kill him, even if the Northern Mang army of 300,000 people attacks head-on, they won't be able to do anything to him."

"There is no need to discuss this matter any further. I will take the shortest route and march quickly through Shangfang Valley to Yanjia Lake!"

(End of this chapter)