Chapter 106 Qingshui River (Three)

Just as the Northwest Alliance Infantry and the Dangxiang Army led by Fang Dangdu were fighting fiercely, Fang Danghanhai, who had been out of Lingzhou City, went through hardships and returned to Xihuizhou.

Yingshu Fang Dangming's military tent was extremely spacious. In the past, Fang Dangdang Wuhu often discussed matters lively. At this time, Fang Dangming and Fang Dang Hanhai were sitting in the tent relatively speechless. Fang Dangming did not expect that Fang Dang Hanhai, who fell into Lingzhou City, could return to Xihuizhou alive. In this way, his plan to seize Fang Dang Hanhai tribe had twists and turns. Fang Dangming stared at Fang Dang Hanhai with a sharp eagle-like eyes, thinking in his mind: "The arrow is drawn without turning back. Since Fang Dang Yanhe is killed, Fang Dang Hanhai must also be removed."

Fang Danghanhai was still in shock, and the situation was worse than he was on the way. Yi Dang Xiang South Army was defeated in Yizhou. His cousin Fang Dang Bai Ge and his younger brother Fang Dang Yan He died in battle. This time, the carefully planned battle to seize Lingzhou, Dang Xiang Fang Dang Man could be said to be a robbery that would not be able to lose a handful of rice. Fang Dang Hanhai was immersed in his own thoughts. Of course, it was impossible to find Fang Dangming's murderous aura flashed in his eyes.

Fang Dangming said in a caring tone with a hint of warm smile: "There is a saying in the Central Plains that if you survive a disaster, you will have good fortune. Han Hai has injuries. Please rest for two days. Don't worry, Qinghe must not die in vain. We must avenge this hatred."

Fang Danghanhai's mind was the scene of the Black Eagle Army entering the city. Thinking of the Black Eagle Army with a strong military appearance, Fang Danghanhai was a little discouraged. He told Fang Dangming what he saw.

Fang Dangming had never fought with the Black Eagle Army, but the Black Eagle Army gave him a deep impression. He took out a waist knife and handed it to Fang Danghanhai, saying, "This knife is the Black Eagle Army's waist knife, which is very sharp."

Fang Danghan Hai pulled out the knife and tried it with his hand. The sharp blade seemed to be able to easily cut the skin. Fang Danghan Hai waved his knife and gestured a few times, saying: "If this knife is considered to be a treasure sword in the Dangxiang Army, but from the scabbard and ornaments, it is just an ordinary sword of the Black Eagle Army. Every soldier who entered the city of the Black Eagle Army had the same standard waist knife on his body."

Fang Dangming looked extremely serious and said, "There are two lessons to be learned in this Eastern Expedition. One is that the situation is unclear. We did not study the combat effectiveness of the troops of the various towns of the Zhou Dynasty. There are several towns northwest of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The number and combat effectiveness of each town are different. We are not prepared in this regard, especially the Black Eagle Army, which is only known but has not attracted our attention. Another reason is that underestimating the enemy, which is actually the continuation of the first reason. It is precisely because of the unknown situation of the enemy that we blindly believe that the Dangxiang Army and the field combat capabilities are far higher than that of the Zhou army, and underestimating the enemy will lead to defeat. What the ancients said is indeed true."

Fang Danghanhai agreed and said, "After escaping from Lingzhou City, I have also thought of this problem many times. The strength of the Zhou army has increased significantly in the past three or four years, which is very different from the previous few years. It seems that the Central Plains are slowly recovering. Our Fang Dang people are weak and we are really unable to do anything to fight such a huge creature."

Fang Dangming heard Fang Dang Hanhai was a little discouraged and snorted gently, saying: "Han Hai should not be discouraged. Although the Southern Army was defeated this time, he successively captured Jingzhou City and Wuliu Pass, surrounded Weizhou City, and successively defeated Jingzhou Army and Fengxiang Army. Although the Southern Army was defeated, it was still prosperous. The main force of our party Xiang Army has not yet officially fought with the main force of the Zhou army. If the main force of the two armies meets, no one can tell who will fight. Lingzhou City is crucial to Fangdang people. This is not successful this time, and there is another time. From now on, we must make more heavy weapons such as chariots, cannon trucks, and rushing wood. Once the time is ripe, we still have to attack Lingzhou. This is an unchanging strategy."

The two chatted casually for a while. Fang Danghanhai was not used to arguing with Fang Dangming, and returned to his tent in a restless manner. He didn't know why he was suddenly upset. This situation had encountered it when he attacked the Tubo people before, and the situation was even more sinister. He was not afraid of it. However, this time he felt that it was really bad. Fang Danghanhai lit an incense stick in the tent, put his hands together, and recited a few scriptures silently.

An old man walked into Fangdanghanhai's room. Fangdanghanhai knew that the old man was Seifeng Fachen. The old man was a servant beside his father. Seeing Fangdanghanhai and Fangdangyanhe grow up and being the most loyal, he stood beside Fangdanghanhai and lit an incense.

After Fang Danghanhai finished reciting the scriptures, he looked back at Xiaofeng Dharmachen. Seeing the old man's worried look, he said, "Is there anything wrong?"

Xifeng Fachen wanted to say something but stopped. Xifeng Fachen followed Fang Danghan's father to fight in the north and south, and their small tribe became stronger and stronger. Xifeng Fachen made great contributions. If he was not a slave caught during the war, he would definitely be a figure in Fangdang tribe.

Fang Danghanhai respected the old man quite well and did not treat him as a slave. When he saw Xifeng Fachen's expression, he knew that he had something to say, so he said to the guard in the tent: "Go out and take a look at the door."

When the guards left the door, Xifeng Fachen approached Fangdanghan Haiti and whispered: "Before Xuan He ascended to heaven, I was the body that I scrubbed for him. There was something that made me very puzzled."

Fang Danghanhai's expression became even more solemn, and he stared at Xiaofeng Fachen.

Xifeng Fachen's voice was a little sad, and he said, "Yunhe is impatient, but he is a very good person. You two are my relatives in this world. I didn't expect that I, a white-haired man, would finally wipe the body for Xifeng Fachen." Xifeng Fachen's face was full of wrinkles, and a drop of tears fell into the wrinkles, just like a drop of rain falling in the desert, it disappeared in a blink of an eye. "Yunhe died of an arrow, and his wound was on his face. However, I carefully checked his wounds, and the arrow was inserted obliquely on his face from bottom to top."

Hearing this, Fang Danghanhai widened his eyes.

Xifeng Fachen continued: "At that time, Xuan He was attacking the Sufang Military Camp. I went to see the Sufang Military Camp. The wall of the military camp was five or six meters high. Standing on the military camp and shooting arrows down, the arrow should be from top to bottom, and it is absolutely impossible to penetrate the face from bottom to top."

Fang Danghanhai's voice was a little chilled and said, "What do you mean, Xuanhe was shot and killed by someone outside the village." Fang Danghanhai suddenly shouted loudly, "Where is that arrow? What kind of arrow is it?"

Xiaofeng Fachen took an arrow from behind his waist and handed it to Fang Danghanhai, which was an extremely common arrow in the Zhou army. There was a small word "Ling" on the arrow shaft. Fang Danghanhai looked at the arrow carefully and said, "This arrow is indeed an arrow used by the Lingzhou army."

Xifeng Fachen said again: "The attack on Sufang Junjian was proposed by Xuan He himself. After he came back from the Yingshuai camp, he was talking about avenging you, and he also said that Yingshuai was a coward. He dared not avenge him, and was not a good man from Dangxiang."

Hou Dayong was not a grass, but a general covered in hangovers. He didn't like this light rain, so he looked up at the sky and cursed: "It's raining again in this ghost weather."

Ten thousand cavalry and two thousand infantry all were hidden in a small hill on the left side of Daniuguan. It was said to be a small hill, but it was actually a deep ditch under two steep mountains, with tens of thousands of people hiding in it. It was as easy as playing. This small hill was like a black hole. All the Dangxiang herders near this ravine were silently missing. Originally, the population in the Daniuguan area was not large, but this was limited by grasslands. If there were too many people, the grassland would have been unable to bear it. After the cleaning of the vanguard camp and the army, the population in the Daniuguan area was even smaller in the years to come.

The relatives and friends of Dangxiang herdsmen never found their missing relatives again. Without a reasonable explanation, the legend appeared: there was a monster in this area. Every August, it would come out hungry to find food. When it met a living creature, it would emit a white mist, and no living creature could resist it and become a snack for the monster. People were always full of fear and respect for the unknown power. This is a common law. No matter whether it is a cultured person or a non-cultural person, it could not be missed. I don’t know how many years it has been, but I don’t know who it was, so I dug a few holes in the small trench where the Northwest Alliance hiding, invited the legendary monster into the cave, accepted everyone’s offerings, and the incense has lasted for thousands of years.

The Northwest Alliance, hidden in Daniu Pass, is the essence of the army of the northwest towns. The main force is naturally four thousand Black Diao Army Cavalry. The Black Diao Army Cavalry is divided into two parts. Two thousand are pure cavalry, while the other two thousand are horse infantry. After more than three years of cold weapons war, Hou Dayong's understanding of cold weapons combat field has been further improved. He did not pay much attention to the use of infantry before, but in actual combat such as attacks and ambushing, the infantry often performs tasks that the cavalry cannot complete and plays a huge role. Therefore, he built a horse infantry in the Black Diao Army, maintaining the characteristics of the infantry and basically solved the main weakness of the infantry's weak mobility. After changing out the Northwest Alliance Independent Army in Jingzhou, this cavalry is close to the level of the Black Diao Army in terms of equipment. Most of the commanders of each capital are held by the backbone of the Black Diao Army. This cavalry can be regarded as the peripheral force of the Black Diao Army.

The cavalry and Guang Zituo led 1,000 cavalry in the territory of Fengzhou, and the 3,000 cavalry in Lingzhou led by Wang Tengxiang. Because the cavalry are all the treasures of each town, the cavalry who led the cavalry to fight with Hou Dayong were the most influential generals in each town. However, there were not many cavalry in the Yongxing Army, and Wang Yanchao, the governor of the Yongxing Army, led the infantry in the Northwest Alliance to threaten Tongxin City. Therefore, Hou Dayong considered it over and over again, but in the end, he did not draw one army and one soldier in the Yongxing Army, so that the infantry in the Northwest Alliance was dominated by Yongxing Army. This was beneficial to Wang Yanchao's command.

In addition to cavalry, this unit has two thousand infantry. The infantry is actually a baggage unit, dozens of carriages, loaded with food, a large number of rockets and bags of gunpowder wrapped tightly with waterproof oil and paper. These gunpowders were accidentally discovered by Hou Dayong in the armory in Lingzhou City. They were originally configured by the Privy Council to the Lingzhou army. Feng Jiye was not good at and did not like to use gunpowder, so he put these gunpowders in the armory and never used them. For Feng Jiye, these gunpowders had no other use except for being used as firecrackers, and were troublesome to keep, which was purely a burden, but in Hou Dayong's eyes, these gunpowders were really huge treasures and powerful weapons to kill the enemy. It was precisely with these gunpowders that Hou Dayong was more confident in ambushing the main force of the Dangxiang Army.

The light rain kept falling, and Hou Dayong was most worried that the black gunpowder would be wet by the rain. So he brought Chen Meng and several personal guards to the location of the infantry. The commander of the infantry was Kuang Cao, one of the five earliest captains of the Black Eagle Army. He was whipping a sergeant with a whip and cursing his mother constantly.

Seeing Hou Dayong coming and Kuang Cao came up, he said angrily: "This soldier really doesn't want to live anymore. I have repeatedly told him that he still wet a pack of gunpowder."

Hou Dayong heard that a pack of gunpowder was wet, so he hurried to the gunpowder and saw some damage to the waterproof oil paper. The rainwater soaked in the damaged area. His face was so heartbroken that he turned into a broken place. He said fiercely to Kuang Cao: "Commander of Kuang, please check it in detail and pass the order. If this happens again, who is responsible for it, and you will not let it go." Kuang Cao felt a stern in his heart. Although the Black Eagle Army had extremely strict military discipline, it would never kill soldiers easily. The most common ones were confinement and whipping. He quickly bowed and said: "The officials have checked it, and such things will not happen again."

Lingzhou tooth general Wang Tengxiang was a very conceited general. Along the way, he had been observing the Black Eagle Army, which was annihilated by the White Ge Army outside Yizhou City. The equipment level of the Black Eagle Army was much stronger than that of its other armies. This is recognized by everyone, and Wang Tengxiang was even more amazed by the training level and mental outlook of the Black Eagle Army. The high morale, murderous eyes and manners of the soldiers were not equipped with. The equipment of the Independent Army was almost the same as the Black Eagle Army, but the spirit of the army was more than the Black Eagle Army.

During the march, Hou Dayong was also observing the situation of each army. The 1,000 Fengzhou cavalry was very provocative, which was very similar to the character of Guang Zitudi, the general of the Fengzhou cavalry. The 3,000 Lingzhou cavalry was disciplined and very well-married. Although the chief general Wang Tengxiang was a strong man, he was very meticulous in his work and carried the three thousand cavalry in an orderly manner. Hou Dayong had a good impression of these two generals, especially his impression of Wang Tengxiang. The military intelligence camp had already obtained his resume, and Hou Dayong had also read it several times, "I fought seven battles with the Dangxiang people and nineteen battles with the Khitans, but no defeat." This is a sentence in Wang Tengxiang's resume. Hou Dayong was deeply impressed after reading it, so he paid special attention to Wang Tengxiang this time.

After Hou Dayong left the infantry, he came to Wang Tengxiang's camp. As soon as he entered the camp gate, a Lingzhou guard blocked his way and said, "Please stay at the general."

Chen Meng is already the captain of the Lion Camp of the Black Eagle Army. The Lion Camp is a comprehensive force. He is responsible for reconnaissance and as a vigilant. Another very important responsibility is to serve as Hou Dayong's personal guard. After Chen Meng arranged the troops in this deep ditch, he followed Hou Dayong to search everywhere. He saw the guards blocking Hou Dayong and said, "This is to recruit envoys, get out of the way." After Chen Meng became the captain of the Lion Camp, he was in charge of a lot of things and quickly matured. He was not angry with the soldiers, but just said calmly.

The Lingzhou guards were very respectful, but they did not mean to get out of the way. A guard saluted and said, "General Wang has an order. Without notice, those who enter without permission will be beheaded. Please ask the envoy to forgive me."

Chen Meng narrowed his eyes and his eyes began to be sharp. He raised the whip in his hand up, but he glanced at Hou Dayong, who was calm and calm, and slowly put the whip down.

Soon, Wang Tengxiang led several deputy generals to walk out quickly. After he saluted, he said, "I don't know if I'm going to get the call for a entrusted man, but I'm not going to welcome you." However, he did not scold the guards who blocked Hou Dayong's way.

After the two sides sat in the camp, Hou Dayong looked around and said, "Today I will meet General Wang alone, you can retreat for the time being." Chen Meng and others quickly withdrew, while several Lingzhou deputy generals looked at Wang Tengxiang hesitantly, waiting for Wang Tengxiang to speak. Wang Tengxiang's head was slightly raised, and the generals of Lingzhou left the tent.

Hou Dayong saw all these details. Wang Tengxiang was the general of the Ya soldiers. This was the private army of the Jiedushi and the most taxable troops in each town. The characteristic of these troops was that they only listened to the command of the Jiedushi and the Ya soldiers. No matter how high the official position, the other generals could not command these Ya soldiers. The Jiedushi Feng Jiye knew that the battle of the Northwest Alliance was extremely important to Lingzhou. If they were victorious, the Dangxiangfang would have no strength to invade Lingzhou for at least ten years. Therefore, they fully supported Hou Dayong and handed over his most taxable troops to Hou Dayong.

"General Wang, do you think this battle has a chance of winning."
Chapter completed!