Chapter 139: Fighting for Hetao (IV)

Since the imperial envoy's departure from Daliang, Ling Shi enjoyed the honor of the imperial envoy along the way. After crossing the Maling River, he arrived in Huan County. The climate, geography and customs suddenly changed a major change. This dividing line is so obvious that Ling Shi, who came to the northwest for the first time, felt the most profound.

Ling Shi arrived in Huan County in the afternoon. The dark and short Huan County wall stood upright, and did not change his appearance because of the arrival of the imperial envoy. The strong wind that cuts people like a knife and the heavy snow swells, oppressing this inconspicuous small town without hesitation.

The Huan County Magistrate is a middle-aged man in his early forties. He has been a county magistrate in this difficult place for more than ten years. The wind, sand, rain and snow made the middle-aged county magistrate look like he was over 70 years old. In Huan County for more than ten years, he received the imperial envoy from Daliang for the first time. The diligent county magistrate asked his servants to kill a big dog, cooked a fragrant pot of dog meat soup, and found some dry mutton, warmed up a pot of old wine, and sent some wild animals to the hunter. This was a good banquet to entertain guests.

Ling Shi had a great banquet along the way, including bird's nest, shark fin, sea cucumber, white eel, deer tail and other rare things. He ate a meal of dog meat in Huan County. It tasted great and was comfortable after eating it. However, after the county magistrate who was not good at talking, Ling Shi gradually felt uncomfortable. After all, he was an imperial envoy, so there was no reason for local officials to invite the imperial envoy to eat dog meat. However, in this weather, eating dog meat and drinking old wine was the right time. Although in the dark night, the city was humiliated by storms and snowstorms everywhere, Ling Shi was so warm that he didn't feel cold.

There were 1,000 soldiers in Huan County, but Wu Songdan took 500 to participate. Only 500 soldiers were left to guard the small border town. In the blizzard, every household closed the door. They climbed onto the earthen kang early, and the city was like an empty city. Ling Shi glanced at the street at the gate of the courtyard and gave up the idea of ​​finding a fun place. Ling Shi, who was idle, got onto the kang early and waded on the warm kang. Ling Shi thought with dissatisfaction: This person is really a lump of wood. No wonder he has been a county magistrate in this poor place for more than ten years.

Early the next morning, when Ling Shi was still dreaming, a knock on the door came from outside the door. Shen Huaijing said, "Sir, we set out earlier and speed up our walk, and strive to arrive at Daniu Pass today. Stay at Daniu Pass for one night and you can go to Tongxin City tomorrow." After Shen Huaijing got online with Ling Shi in Jingzhao Mansion, Shen Huaijing racked his brains to accompany Ling Shi to eat, drink and have fun, and arrived in Huan County. Shen Huaijing had almost become the butler of Ling Shidi.

Ling Shi yawned and said, "I asked someone to make some dog meat soup. This dog meat soup is really a good thing." But he cursed Hou Dayong: Hou Dayong is respected as a governor and is even more a relative of the royal country. He insisted on moving the northwest camp to Tongxin City. How good is it to set up in Jingzhou or Qingzhou. Let me run such a long way.

Last time, Ying came to announce the edict. In order to support Hou Dayong, Chai Rong specially told him to gather the military governors together and then announce the edict. This time, because it was involved in adjusting the military governors, bringing these military governors together was not a good thing. Ling Shi had several imperial decrees in his hands. According to the route he had set in advance, he had to go to the northwest camp to announce the edict, and then send his subordinates to the towns to promulgate the edict with several other imperial decrees.

After talking for more than an hour, Ling Shi and his party set out towards Daniu Pass.

Just when Lingshi was dreaming about a hot kang in Huan County, Chen Meng and two hundred Black Eagle Army braved the heavy wind and snow to camp in a valley near Daniuguan where they could shelter from the wind. Waiting for the arrival of the imperial envoy. Not far from this valley, it is the only way to go to Tongxin City. From Tongxin City to Daniuguan, the Black Eagle Army drew a large number of exquisite topographic maps, hills, gullies, and woods marked extremely exquisitely on the topographic maps. Chen Meng also traveled on this route many times, so he chose an excellent ambush point.

The two hundred black eagles were all wearing Dangxiang people's clothes, and the bows and arrows held in their hands were also Dangxiang people's bamboo ox bows. The bamboo ox bows were made of yak horns and yarns and dried willow skins as strings. They were unique to the Dangxiang people's local bows and arrows, but this kind of bows and arrows were made quite particular and were not widely used in the Dangxiang army. During several battles between the Black Eagles and Dangxiang Fang, many bamboo ox bows were seized. Except for a small number of these bamboo ox bows were sent to the Black Eagles camp, most of which were distributed to the Black Eagles lion camp for special tasks.

When it was just dawn, the blizzard that had been raging all night finally stopped. Fifty or sixty riders appeared in the valley. They did not stop and ran straight into the valley.

This group of riders is a small army of Dangxiang Fang. To be precise, this group of people is not a real army. It is not impossible to say that they are bandits. Since the coalition forces invaded the Qingshui River, these houses have lost their place of survival. The elderly, weak, women and children migrated westward, while the young and strong Dangxiang people spontaneously organized and attacked the coalition forces everywhere. After several clearings by the coalition forces, these spontaneous teams suffered heavy losses. Most of the remaining troops retreated to Xihui Prefecture, but a small number of people were still active on the Qingshui River, specifically attacking the coalition forces' transportation lines.

When these small troops appeared in the valley entrance, they were discovered by the sentries of the Black Eagle Army.

The duty distance of the Black Eagle Army Lion Camp was quite tight. In the first and second half of the night, a group of soldiers were arranged, each with two fire-like 20 soldiers. Among the twenty soldiers, four of the twenty soldiers were secretly sent, and the other sixteen were prepared for duty at a distance of 40 or 50 meters from the secretly sent.

These Dangxiang people did not expect that on such heavy snowy days, there would be soldiers from the Great Zhou army in the deep valley. They were very familiar with the terrain at the bottom of the valley, and did not send scouts to walk towards the bottom of the valley. In a hidden cave in this valley, there were the winter food they stored.

When these Dangxiang people rushed into the valley, they suddenly heard several sharp eagles. The leading Dangxiang people Ning Chong was very clever. When he heard the abrupt eagle cry, he immediately realized that there was something wrong. On such snowy days, the eagles would not have come out to move so early. He shouted to the riders beside him: "Stop, there is an ambush in front." The Dangxiang riders' riders were very riding. With the leader's shouting, the war horses were all stopping in the snow.

Sixteen Black Eagle Army soldiers and sixteen war horses were lying under a small cliff on a mountain side to avoid the wind and snow. After hearing the signal of the sentry, the two quickly ran towards the camp in the valley. The other fourteen soldiers quickly jumped onto the war horses and welcomed the people in the valley.

The soldiers of the Black Eagle Army Lion Camp were all veterans. They were well-trained and had rich combat experience. According to the tactical requirements of the Black Eagle Army cavalry, as long as the sentry issued a warning, the first move was to get on the horse, and the second move was to take out the bow and arrow. The fourteen soldiers were blocked at the bottom of the valley and prepared to attack and ride on the ground.

Ning, the leader of the Dangxiang people, flashed out of the valley of Jianxiu, and shouted: "Don't shoot arrows, we are from Tiger Flying Stream, where are you from?"

Tiger Flying Stream refers to the place name. There are many relatively independent settlements on the banks of Qingshui River. The herdsmen of these settlements are used to calling themselves according to the place. Tiger Flying Stream is a relatively large location and belongs to the tribe of Fang Dangming.

No one in the Black Eagle Army could speak Dangxiangfang. Therefore, it was impossible to delay time. A fire-bolt ordered in a low voice: "Prepare, let it go." The Black Eagle Army soldier pulled out the bamboo ox bow and shot it at the opposite side. After firing the arrow, he ran into the valley without waiting for the enemy to come.

After the coalition forces occupied the Qingshui River, the Dangxiang people spontaneously organized many small troops. Although most of the small troops were annihilated or withdrawn from the Niu Pass, some people and horses that had not been cleared were still active in the mountains. In the mountains, there were no coalition troops with less than a hundred people. Therefore, these Hu Xiaojian Dangxiang riders all thought this was another small army and did not expect that these dozen people would suddenly attack. Unpredictable, several Dangxiang people were immediately shot.

Dangxiang riders cursed angrily: "These people must be Zhou Bing, kill them."

Ning Cong, the leader of the Party Xiang, was very alert. He led this small army to deal with the coalition forces on the banks of the Qingshui River for nearly two months. Although he was surrounded by the coalition cavalry several times, he always escaped danger at the most dangerous moment. This time, Ning Cong smelled the danger again. He shouted loudly: "There is an ambush here. Get out quickly."

The Dangxiang rider turned his horse's head and ran towards the valley entrance. Soon after he ran out of the valley entrance, a large group of cavalry chased out of the valley entrance. Chen Meng led the Black Eagle Army to chase for four or five miles, and could only see the backs of these riders. These Dangxiang riders grew up on the horse's back. At this time, in order to escape, they ran as if they were flying. Seeing that they could not catch up with these riders, Chen Meng ordered the pursuit to stop.

On the way back to the valley, I saw a fallen sergeant Dangxiang. An arrow was inserted into his chest. It was not because he was shot in the valley. He insisted on not being caught. After running wildly in the war horse, he finally couldn't support falling down. When the Black Eagle Army discovered him, he had already vented more and had less energy, and was lying powerlessly in the snow.

Chen Meng jumped off the horse, looked at the guard for a while, suddenly grabbed the arrow's tail and inserted it hard. Dangxiang rider was a very strong man with blood and energy. He only snorted heavily in the severe pain, opened his eyes and stared at Chen Meng hard. Chen Meng praised: "What a good man." He stabbed him hard again, and Dangxiang rider screamed "ah" and there was no movement again.

Chen Meng said to his personal guards, "Is there any standard arrows from the Great Zhou army?" The guards flipped over for a long time, but there was no one. Chen Meng cursed and laughed and said, "You really obey orders. You have changed arrows so cleanly. Just by obeying the orders, I will kill a few sheep to reward everyone after returning to the camp." After saying that, he pulled out the arrows from the Dangxiang rider, put them in the arrow bag, and then said to a soldier: "Please carry this Dangxiang rider onto the horse."

On the way back to the valley, the Black Eagle Army encountered two fallen riders who were dismissed. The two riders were both shot arrows and landed on the ground, but because their injuries were even worse, they were dismissed earlier than the first Dangle Horseman he encountered. When they were discovered by the Black Eagle Army, they had already died of serious injuries.

After experiencing a small episode of unexpected encounter with the Dangxiang people, the Black Eagle Army strengthened its vigilance and continued to hide in the valley. At noon, the imperial envoy Ling Shi led the imperial guards of the Guards and the Imperial Guards appeared in the eyes of the Black Eagle Reconnaissance Sergeants. The three hundred imperial guards of the Guards and the two hundred imperial guards were divided into two parts, the front part was fifty, the distance from the squadron was about one hundred meters, and the distance from the squadron was fifty meters. Ling Shi and two hundred imperial guards were located in the central position.

After receiving the report, Chen Meng led the Black Eagle Army to rush out of the valley. Chen Meng's mission was to scare the imperial envoy Ling Shi. How to act realistically, Shi Hu did not make any arrangements and handed over to Chen Meng to handle it fully based on the actual situation. Although the imperial envoy was the core of the military force of the Great Zhou Dynasty, in Chen Meng's eyes, the imperial envoy army of the Military Control Commission was not as good as the Dangxiang Army. Chen Meng believed that if two hundred "Dangxiang Army" were dispatched at one time and left without a fierce battle, it would be suspicious. Therefore, Chen Meng divided the Black Eagle Army into two teams, and dispatching a "Dangxiang Army" was enough to scare the imperial envoy Ling Shi in the residential area.

The rear team of the Guards Department had just passed Daniu Pass. After passing this pass, there was a relatively flat Qingshui River area in front of them. The commander of the Guards Department was a cavalry commander named Zhang Luojie. When he was in Huan County, he asked the infantry commander who guarded the city in Huan County and knew that Daniu Pass was a good place to set up ambush. Therefore, when the troops passed Daniu Pass, although the front team had already passed, Zhang Luojie still pressed the handle of the knife and was extremely vigilant. When the whole team passed Daniu Pass, the terrain became flattering, Zhang Luojie then put his hanging heart into his stomach.

Zhang Luojie let go of his right hand from the hilt. Because his right hand holding the hilt was too hard, his fingers became a little stiff. He kept rubbing his fingers.

Suddenly, the sergeant in front of the army shouted loudly: "Dangxiang people, there are Dangxiang people in front of them." Then, the sound of horse hooves rumbling. Zhang Luojie pulled out his long sword and shouted: "Dangxiang people are coming, the whole army is approaching." These guards and imperial guards did not fight with the Dangxiang army. They had heard that the Dangxiang people were extremely brave and had a look of panic on their faces. However, they were also well-trained and had long-standing soldiers in positions. After hearing the horns of the central army, they slowly moved closer to the central army. They set up their formations, took a bow and arrow, and were ready to fight.

One hundred Black Eagle riders rushed towards the guards shouting. The Black Eagle riders tried to imitate the shouts of the Dangxiang people. Since each sergeant had a different understanding of the shouts, these shouts became strange. Some sergeants made "Oh, oh" sounds. Some made "Ah, ah" sounds. Some sergeants made "Ah, ah" sounds. Some sergeants started to scream. When they rushed to the fun, they made "Kill, dog, oh, your mother, turtle son" and so on.

Although the army of the Guards was a cavalry unit, they shouldered the heavy responsibility of defending the imperial envoy. Although there were not many "Dangxiang people", they did not dare to take the initiative to attack. The soldiers of the Guards took out their bows and arrows and shot at the "Dangxiang people" rushing towards them.

Another hundred people hid behind a hillside and did not show up. Chen Meng stood on the top of the slope with four or five people, observing the fight between the two armies. Chen Meng smiled and said to Jiang Xiaosan, the new army, next to him: "The number of guards is much more than that of the Black Eagle Army, but he is huddled in a group, a passive beating style, which is really a waste of the word "Imperial Guards."

While speaking, a hundred Black Eagle Army riders had approached the Imperial Guards of the Guards. These riders were very cunning and did not approach the Imperial Guards of the Guards, but just kept circling around the Imperial Guards of the Guards. The Imperial Guards of the Guards of the Guards heard the wild screams of the Dangxiang people, and circled around them like a whirlwind. In addition, they raised arrows to shoot at the "Dangxiang people". However, because the distance between the two armies was beyond the range of arrows, these arrows could not pose a threat to the "Dangxiang people".

The Black Eagle Army soldiers were spinning around and calmly shot arrows at the Guards. The Dangxiang people's bamboo ox bow was complicated and the output was not high. However, the bamboo ox bow was indeed worthy of the title of strong bow. Although both sides were shooting at each other, the Black Eagle Army was not hurt, but the Guards were constantly hit by arrows.

This is the first time that the Black Eagle Army has used bamboo ox bows on a large scale. Chen Meng stood on the hillside, stretched his neck and watched ten people seriously. He said to Jiang Xiaosan: "The bamboo ox bow is really good. This time it can be regarded as a test of the actual combat effectiveness of bamboo ox bows. When you go back, you must recommend it to the Jiedushi."

Jiang Xiaosan married a Dangxiang woman and went through the first three days of running-in period. Jiang Xiaosan tasted the joy of the newlyweds and became the son-in-law of Dangxiang people. Dangxiang people's image in Jiang Xiaosan's mind has gradually changed a little. He said: "The archery of the bamboo ox bow is not as good as a crossbow, but it is farther than our standard bow. Fortunately, the output of this bamboo ox bow is not high, otherwise our losses in Yizhou and Xiaoniuguan will increase greatly."

Chen Meng looked at the guards' soldiers being shot down a lot, and said, "Blow the horn and withdraw the troops."

Ling Shi had never seen a real battlefield. When he saw the Xiang army coming and going like an enclave, Jiuhun had been scared away from his seven souls, and kept chanting: "I am the imperial envoy, I must be calm, calm." But his body trembled without obeying the orders.

Shen Huaijing has been following Ling Shi. He is very familiar with the situation in the Qingshui River. After the Black Eagle Army and the Independent Army's full force, it is difficult for the brigade of Dangxiang people to gain a foothold south of Xiaoniu Pass. Hundreds of Dangxiang people were dispatched together. The traffic line from Daniu Pass to Tongxin City is relatively safe. Therefore, with the 300 guards of the imperial guards, he was not very worried about safety issues. Seeing that the "Dangxiang people" had only a hundred cavalry, Shen Huaijing comforted Ling Shi and said, "Commander Zhang is very experienced. His fighting style is correct. Moreover, the soldiers of the Guards are well-trained, and there are only more than a hundred cavalry of Dangxiang people, so he cannot take advantage of it."

As the guards and imperial guards continued to fall, Ling Shi's face became paler, but Shen Huaijing became more and more confused. The style of the Dangxiang people was really weird. The Dangxiang people fought bravely and directly, and each battle was extremely fierce. The tactics of these Dangxiang people were somewhat similar to those of the Black Eagle Army. Although the distance between the Dangxiang soldiers was long, the horse was fast, and the face was dark, there were several faces vaguely similar. When the sound of horns sounded on the hillside, these Dangxiang riders retreated quickly, and Shen Huaijing seemed to have captured a trace.
Chapter completed!