Chapter 136: Fierce battle with Huijun

In the early morning, the snow was still densely underground. The sky was gray and the visibility was very low. The thickness of the snow was as thick as the knees. It was very difficult to walk. An army of about 30,000 people was trekking westward on the ice of the Yellow River. This army was the Anbei Army from Xishoujiang City. They marched for six days, with a goal of Lingwu County, which was less than a hundred miles away.

Duan Xiushi took the lead. The elderly veteran suffered a heavy blow in the past month. The Li clan was suddenly destroyed, the Zhang family lost Hedong, and tens of thousands of Anbei army surrendered to Pei Jun in Dai County. A series of blows were extremely heavy for him. He suddenly lost supplies and had little left to stock. He could not stand this winter. If the road was blocked with heavy snow, even if he wanted to surrender to Hebei, he would not be able to do so. The final result would be that the entire army would be wiped out.

Just when he was facing the most severe test in his life, Zhang Huan's message made him see another glimmer of hope from extreme despair. Hope is Lingwu County. If he can succeed, the situation in the entire Guanlong area will change drastically.

The Yellow River was already frozen strongly, and heavy snow was the best cover. At this time, several horses rushed from afar. This was the scout who went to Lingwu County to find out the news first.

"Report to the general, Lingwu County is indeed empty, with less than two thousand defenders."

Duan Xiushi was shocked, and he turned around and shouted: "Brothers, hurry up, you can eat your stomach tonight, wash your feet with hot water, and have a warm sleep."

The hope of survival is ahead. Thirty thousand soldiers stimulated their final potential and began to trot and sprint towards Lingwu County a hundred miles away.

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In Kaiyang County, the tragic scene after being ravaged by the Uighurs last year has gradually disappeared. The Wei Family Zong house was rebuilt, which is more grand and magnificent than the original mansion. Many big trees have been planted, and green is hidden, so it is completely impossible to see that it had encountered misfortune a year ago.

But the trauma in people's hearts is not healed so quickly. Nearly half of the Wei family's children were killed, and countless women were stolen. In the past year, people were in a hurry and their eyes were filled with melancholy.

But Wei Yan quickly recovered his vitality. He took ten new concubines to replace the woman he had been stolen. In his opinion, except for his mother and son, everything could be ignored.

After Zhang Huan crossed the river, he returned to Kaiyang County and asked Wei Qing to deal with Zhang Huan. On the one hand, although he wanted to train his son and give him a chance to stand out, on the other hand, Wei Ye did have several major matters to deal with by himself.

One is that the Zhang family in Hedong withdrew from the power center, and various forces that were loyal to the Zhang family would also find a backer, so they became the targets of the competition among several other major families.

Wei Yan wanted to win over Jiang Huan, the Minister of Rites. He turned out to be Zhang Ruohao's confidant and Zhang Ruohao's main capable general in charge of Rites. If he could get his allegiance, then Wei E's hand could be inserted into the Rites.

Of course, this requires an opportunity, and the best way is to marry. Jiang Huan's only daughter has always liked his son Wei Qing. If she could form this marriage, Zhang Ruohao's most important force would be controlled by herself.

The second major thing that Wei Yan considered was Hexi. Although it was only a small piece of Wuwei County, he could raise tens of thousands of war horses, which could enable his Wei family to obtain the sharpest cavalry. This is something other aristocratic families do not have. As long as there are 50,000 cavalrymen, this will be his own capital to sweep the world.

But just after he had just dealt with Xin Yunjing and finally got Hexi, an uninvited guest broke in. Although he was not sure where Zhang Huan's ultimate goal was? But Wei Er's intuition told him that Zhang Huan just wanted to take Hexi.

At this moment, the ambitious head of the family was carefully studying a map just drawn in the study. The map was successfully drawn with hundreds of people for two years. The mountains, rivers, villages and towns on it were marked clearly, even as detailed as how many people there were in each village, and the seasonal changes of each river were detailed, which was undoubtedly a treasure for marching and fighting.

But Wei Yan was concerned about Zhang Huan's march route. When he heard that Zhang Huan crossed the Yellow River in Lingwu County, he scared him out of a cold sweat. He suddenly discovered a mistake. How could he use Shuofang Army to encircle and suppress it? Will Lingwu County become empty in this way? His eyes moved to Xishoujiang City hundreds of miles away. If Duan Xiushi took the opportunity to move south, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Zhang Huan probably hadn't seen this yet, otherwise he would take advantage of the situation to occupy Lingwu County. Wei Yan secretly called out a lucky call, and he immediately wrote a letter ordering the 20,000 Shuofang Army to return to Lingwu immediately.

As soon as the personal soldiers who were delivering the letter left, suddenly, his second son Wei Chi held a five-guard pigeon letter and ran towards the study, "Father, something big happened in Chang'an, and the five uncles sent a quick and quick letter at the same time."

"What happened?" Wei Yan was stunned. His first reaction was that the palace transformation occurred in Chang'an again.

He opened the letter in a hurry, his body suddenly stiffened, and his heart seemed to fall into a deep abyss all at once. The content of the letter was the same. Hundreds of thousands of scholars in Chang'an and the people broke out in a marche of condemning him for obstructing Zhang Huanxi from regaining Hexi for his family's selfishness. Dozens of important officials in the court, including Cui Yuan, Pei Jun, Wang Ang, Chu Xingshui and others, also expressed their attitudes and jointly issued the most severe warning to him.

The dense sweat oozed out from Weier's forehead, and his face was extremely pale. He understood the seriousness of this matter. If it was handled improperly, Weier would become a sinner in history, and the Wei family's century-old reputation would be destroyed in his own hands.

"Father, there is news." Wei Chi's voice trembled and he took out another pigeon letter.

Wei Yan stared at the letter tightly. He no longer had the courage to open it again. Finally, he trembled and opened it. He was stunned at first, but suddenly his legs became weak and he was spinning. The letter fell to the ground, 'The court has appointed Zhang Huan as the governor of Liangzhou and the governor of Wuwei County.'

"Father!" Wei Chi helped him, so that he did not fall down.

Wei Yan gently pushed his son away. He sat down and stared out the window, and went to the army to attack the plan, followed by the army and the army, and the last time, he attacked the army. What kind of person was he who put in?

After a long time, he sighed deeply and said to the personal soldiers behind him, "Transfer my order and ordered Wei Qing to let Zhang Huan go to Hexi, and told Lu Gongsi to divide Tianbao County into place for him to station troops, and ignore all the money, grain, and materials. Didn't he want to fight Tubo? Let him ask the Tubo people to ask for it."

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‘Dong!Dong!Dong!’ The huge drum sound echoed between the heaven and earth, and the black army was divided into three square formations, approaching the city from the west, north and south. On the boundless white earth, it was like three black curtains, slowly spreading out.

The army's footsteps were neat and rhythmic, and the murderous aura rushed to the sky and earth to advance towards the city. It slowly stopped three miles away. More than a dozen generals surrounded a man in white and approached the city. It was Wei Qing, the eldest son of the Wei family.

He stopped when he reached three hundred steps away from the city wall and shouted loudly: "Please come and answer."

The north wind was strong and sent his voice far into the city. Zhang Huan was right next to the city tower. He had seen Wei Qing a long time ago. He smiled and said, "How can old friends come to visit? Open the city gate and I will talk to him about the past."

The city gate opened wide, and a cavalry flew out with an arrow. More than a hundred people were closely guarding Zhang Huan and stopped dozens of steps away from Wei Qing. Zhang Huan bowed and smiled from a distance, "Did Brother Wei be fine?"

Wei Qing looked at Zhang Huan with complicated eyes. He changed. The trace of bookish aura on his body had disappeared. His waist was straight, his eyes were sharp, his face was thin and covered with green Hu Tsubasa, and his body was full of the charm of a mature man.

Wei Qing sighed softly in his heart, and he said to Zhang Huan coldly: "You saved my life, I am grateful in my heart. Now I will give you a chance. As long as you return to Hedong, I will let you go."

Zhang Huan shook his head and smiled faintly, "Brother Wei is so hard that he can't help him. Is there any place for me to stand in Hedong?"

Wei Qing lowered his head and thought for a while, stared at Zhang Huan and said, "There is still a way. You surrender to my father. I killed the Dashi Army Army Envoy last night. If you are willing to surrender, I will appoint you as the Dashi Army Envoy, and I promise you that my father will never make things difficult for you."

Zhang Huan still smiled and shook his head, "What kind of person is Uncle Wei Shi? Brother Yu knows it very well. I appreciate my good intentions."

"you....."

Seeing that he was not grateful, Wei Qing couldn't help but feel a little angry. He stared at Zhang Huan's eyes and said word by word: "Do you have to take away the Hexi of my Wei family?"

Zhang Huan laughed to the sky, and suddenly he stopped laughing and said to Wei Qing coldly: "Is it the king's land under the sky? Zhang only knows that there is Hexi of the Tang Dynasty, and has never heard of the Wei family."

Just now, a horse ran towards him, and the horse shouted from afar: "Young master, something big is not good!"

He rushed to Wei Qing, glanced at Zhang Huan, and said a few words in his ear in a low voice. Wei Qing's face changed drastically, and the war horse took several steps back, with an extremely shocked look in his eyes. He suddenly turned around and pointed at Zhang Huan and said angrily: "Do you go to report the message to Duan Xiushi?"

Zhang Huan smiled slightly, "You forgot him, who can you blame him again?"

"mean!"

Wei Qing's fair face suddenly turned red. He gritted his teeth and said, "I guessed that you ran to Huijun to lure the Hexi army out and tell you that even if all my subordinates died in battle, I will never let him out."

"Then let's go and see!"

Zhang Huan said a coldly, turned around and rushed towards the city gate. Wei Qing stared at his back, his face turned red and white. He finally couldn't help but yell, "Zhang Huan, one day I will make you kneel in front of me and beg for mercy!"

Zhang Huan ignored him, he quickly returned to the city, the city gate closed, and the soldiers began to block the city gate with huge bluestone.

The sound of the attack was rumbling. The Shuofang Army and the Longyou Army pressed forward from the west, south and north at the same time. The black soldiers were like ant colonies, shouting low slogans. Teams of cavalry passed through them. The flying crossbows and arrows were as dense as raindrops, woven into a huge net of arrows, especially the one-foot-long flying crossbow, which could shoot more than 500 steps, with strong force, making the city walls sound like "bang!", and the bricks were constantly smashed and rolled down, screams and wails kept ringing above and below the city.

The drum sound was encrypted again, and more than a dozen temporary building cars slowly drove towards the city wall.

It was like moving houses, with more than 200 soldiers on each chariot. Some of them were wearing heavy armor and holding spears in their hands, eager to try, while the other group of people held steel crossbows and fired arrows into the city.

Among them are hundreds of stairs made overnight, tied with thick iron chains and belts, and stand ten feet high. Although it is simple to make, it is better than a huge number.

The moat had been frozen strongly and had lost its defense. The black army holding a shield passed through the ice cap and put a simple staircase on the walls. The soldiers began to pounce up like hungry wolf snatching food.

Above the city wall, the soldiers of the Tianqi Camp were well-trained. Although they were small in number, they were in good command. They resisted effectively in an orderly manner. When the stairs were placed on the city wall, a knife immediately chopped off the head of the stairs. Then they stretched out a few steel forks to push the stairs to the side. The movement was done in one go, and they cooperated very skillfully. The city wall had already been poured with water, and the frozen and smooth. When the stairs moved, they could not stop the casting and slid straight towards the city. A series of screams sounded in the air.

Flying crossbows, also known as bed crossbows, are used to deal with building vehicles. The arrows are one foot long and the arrows are heavy and can be fired in a row. The dense flying crossbows hit the building vehicles, making them shaking. After just a few rounds of arrows, the carts collapsed loosely and hundreds of soldiers on the cart fell one after another, with heavy casualties.

At this time, the drum sound of the enemy formation suddenly changed, no longer dense, but was dull and shocking. The Longyou Army and the Shuofang Army retreated like a tide and separated from the left and right. Three dark monsters came out of the enemy formation. They were huge in size and were actually city-pounding hammers made of a thousand-year-old tree. The head of the hammer was wrapped in thick iron sheets and installed on a huge wooden frame. There were wooden wheels underneath. Each city-pounding hammer was dragged by nearly a hundred horses, and hundreds of cavalrymen held huge shields on both sides to guard them.

The city hammer rolled forward, and the rumble sounded through the sky. Their target was the closed gate. The suspension bridge had long been destroyed in the melee. At this moment, the bow and arrow stopped shooting, and the battlefield was silent. Everyone stared at the three huge city hammers.

Zhang Huan stood on the west gate tower, and right in front of him, a huge hammer hitting slowly came.

In fact, there are many ways to effectively prevent the city hammer from hitting, such as throwing down huge rocks to block the way; for example, when it hits the city, it can be smashed with big stones and giant trees.

But Zhang Huan chose another way. He had to make Longyou Army feel fear in his heart. He hit the city hammer and rolled forward. He had already crossed the ice surface of the moat. He was less than twenty steps away from the city gate. The iron sheet on the head of the hammer was shining with a faint green light.

At this moment, hundreds of large ceramic jars were suddenly thrown down from the city, falling to the ground and shattered, and the viscous black turmeric oil flowed all over the ground. Zhang Huan's bow was pulled open. He smiled coldly, and a rocket drew a beautiful parabola and fell high from the city tower, as if a red wave fell into the black ocean. "Boom!" The fire soared into the sky, the flames flew into the air, and instantly swallowed the hammer.

The extremely frightened war horse neighed in the fire, broke free from the belt like crazy, and ran back with flames all over the body. The guards fell from the horse and were trampled to pieces in an instant. The city was still silent and without any movement. Suddenly, a deep "boom" sounded like a thunder sounded in the red clouds. The rack supporting the hammer crashed collapsed. The huge hammer crashed and rolled down to the ground, smashing dozens of undead soldiers into meat sauce.

The golden bell for retreating finally rang, and the harsh and clanging sound reached the top of the city, and there was a sudden burst of joy on the top of the city.

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The next day, when the golden morning glow reflected on the tall city wall, the soldiers guarding the city suddenly discovered that the enemy's military camp had suddenly disappeared, and there was only white snow on the ground. Zhang Huan hurried to the top of the city, and he looked into the distance and the end of the sky was empty.

Suddenly, a war horse ran from afar and stopped at the city. The knight immediately opened the bow and shot a letter to the city. A soldier picked it up and handed it to Zhang Huan. Zhang Huan opened the letter and looked at it briefly, with a faint smile in his eyes. He turned around and said to everyone: "Wei Yan assigned Tianbao County in Wuwei County to our garrison."

Seeing that everyone's eyes showed puzzled doubts, he smiled slightly, "This is called a soldier who defeats others without fighting."
Chapter completed!