Battle situation

The biting north wind swept across the barren fields. Mi Liren reined in his horse and stood on a gentle slope. Behind him were the elite soldiers of the imperial court, ready for battle, with black armor and black flags, and swords and spears like a forest.

His face was stern as he stared intently at the distant horizon. In his heart, he felt both uncontrollable excitement and a hint of impatience after being fooled repeatedly.

As a close and old minister of Emperor Guangqi Ning Yanli, and a representative of the Yongzhou military generals, he became a general of the Southern Dynasty due to his merits. He was well aware of the heavy responsibility of this trip to the north.

Your Majesty has issued an order. Allying with Beishuo is only a temporary measure. The first priority must be to kill the traitor Ning Lingyi!

As long as Ning Lingyi dies, Heshuo will be leaderless, and the barbarians in Beishuo will be greedy and short-sighted. At that time, the initiative will return to the hands of the court, whether to drive them away or pacify them.

Over the past six months, he has repeatedly sent secret envoys, carrying large sums of money and treasures, to the Beishuo camp, promising huge profits, explaining the pros and cons, and even offering to cede some border towns as bait. Finally, he persuaded the scheming Beishuo Khan.

The two sides agreed that the Beishuo Army would drive Ning Lingyi's troops here today, and then the imperial army would set up ambushes from all sides and attack from the north and south, in order to kill the evil woman who brought disaster to the country on the battlefield!

But he waited from early morning until the sun was setting, and there was not a single person in sight in the wilderness except the howling cold wind.

"General," the deputy general rode closer and whispered, "It's been a long time since the agreed time. Will the Beishu people play tricks on us again? These barbarians have no faith or loyalty at all!"

Mi Liren's face was so gloomy that it could drip water. If he was teased again this time, how could he, Mi Liren, and even the court maintain their dignity? How could His Majesty, who had allocated two million taels of military funds at a time when the inner treasury was stretched to the limit, allow such a waste!

"Wait a little longer, otherwise we can withdraw our troops."

After a long time, there was still no movement.

Mi Liren was extremely angry and swung his whip.

Just as he ordered the withdrawal and made other plans, a rapidly moving black line suddenly appeared on the distant horizon!

Here we come!

Mi Liren's spirits lifted. He raised his right hand, and tens of thousands of soldiers behind him entered a state of combat, with bows and crossbows strung and spears pointed forward. A murderous aura filled the air.

The army was getting closer and closer, and a large flag at the head could be vaguely seen. Although it was covered in dust, it was still waving stubbornly. It was the Pearl Flag that made His Majesty unable to sleep or eat!

There was a man riding in the lead, wearing silver armor. Although his face could not be seen clearly, his figure and demeanor, who else could it be but Ning Lingyi?

"God help me!" Mi Liren almost laughed out loud, "Ning Lingyi, you have come to this day. You actually dared to come here and die!"

He seemed to have seen the supreme glory of killing Ning Lingyi in battle and regaining Heshuo and being promoted to a higher position, waving at him. He stared at the prey that was getting closer and closer, ready to give the order to charge.

But the next moment, his smile froze on his face!

Just behind those thousands of cavalrymen under the Mingzhu flag, smoke and dust billowed, the sound of hooves was like thunder, and countless more cavalrymen emerged!

Those cavalrymen were dressed differently, with braids, furs, and sharp scimitars. They charged with a savage and wild momentum. They were the Western Qiang Iron Cavalry!

And looking at the momentum all over the mountains, there must be no less than ten thousand people!

"General! It's the Western Qiang people!" the deputy general exclaimed.

"Western Qiang people? Why Western Qiang people?" Mi Liren exclaimed in shock, his mind still swirling. "Where are the Beishu people? Weren't they the ones who drove Ning Lingyi here?"

In a flash, a terrible thought came to my mind: I've fallen into a trap!

This wasn't Beishuo driving a tiger to devour a wolf; this was Ning Lingyi diverting trouble eastward! She had somehow managed to lure the main force of the Western Qiang into chasing her and charging straight at her!

"Quick! Change the defensive formation! It's the main force of Western Qiang!" Mi Liren roared at the top of his lungs.

But it was too late.

When the thousands of cavalrymen led by Ning Lingyi were about to collide with the imperial army's front line, they dispersed to both wings, revealing the ferocious and roaring Western Qiang cavalry behind them!

The scattered Mingzhu Guard cavalry did not flee far away, but instead used crossbows to continuously stimulate the Western Qiang cavalry.

The Western Qiang people had been chasing for a long time and were already blood-thirsty. When they saw the strict Southern Dynasty army formation in front of them, they thought it was an ambush set by Ning Lingyi, and new and old hatreds broke out in an instant!

"Charge! Kill all the southern dogs!"

The Western Qiang cavalry crashed into the imperial army's formation like a torrent breaking through a dam.

For a moment, people and horses fell to the ground, blood splattered, and the sound of weapons clashing resounded throughout the wilderness!

Mi Liren's eyes were bloodshot. He saw clearly that Ning Lingyi's several thousand cavalrymen had done it on purpose! They had lured the Western Qiang people towards him, then quickly retreated to the flank of the battlefield, leaving the battle group unscathed and just watching the battle from afar.

However, he and his tens of thousands of troops were completely caught in a melee with the main force of the Western Qiang, with no way to retreat or avoid!

"Hold on! Kill them! Kill all these Qiang dogs!" Mi Liren drew his sword and roared wildly. He knew that there was no way this could end peacefully. If he didn't repel the Western Qiang people, today would be his burial place!

On a high slope, Ning Lingyi reined in her warhorse and looked down coldly at the fighting below. The cold wind blew her hair, and a little dust stained her silver armor.

Countless thoughts flashed through her mind. Among the people who fell, in addition to the Western Qiang people, there were also soldiers from the Southern Dynasty. But she thought about it again and again, and finally hardened her heart.

She turned her head slightly and looked at another hill in the distance.

There, a group of black-armored knights appeared at some point, and the leader was a burly man, who was Tuoba Hong.

He did not join in the battle, but just watched from afar, as if the bloody clash before his eyes was just a play that had nothing to do with him.

The two people's eyes met in the air, and in that brief intersection, they exchanged thousands of words.

The first step of the plan was accomplished.

But Ning Lingyi's gaze swept across the team behind Tuoba Hong and her brows furrowed slightly.

The number of people is wrong.

The personal guards that Tuoba Hong brought with him were only a few thousand people, far from the tens of thousands of main forces under his command.

Where did his main cavalry go?

She turned her head suddenly and looked towards the direction of Zhenzhou in the west!

That's right! How could Tuoba Hong be willing to be just a part of her plan? How could he give up the Zhenzhou he had coveted for so long?

Cooperating with me, using the imperial envoys to create confusion, and then pretending to agree to join forces with Mi Liren, was actually all done to paralyze everyone!

His real goal from the beginning to the end was to take advantage of this golden opportunity when the main force of the Western Qiang was luring the imperial army to be tripped up, and to take Zhenzhou with a thunderous force.

What a great Tuoba Hong!

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.

Ning Lingyi calculated people's hearts and interests accurately, but ultimately underestimated the ambition of the Khan of Beishuo.

*

At the same time, outside Zhenzhou City.

The war drums shook the sky and the cries of killing shook the earth.

Countless elite soldiers of Beishuo launched wave after wave of fierce attacks on the crumbling Zhenzhou city wall. Arrows flew like locusts, huge rocks roared, and lives were lost every moment.

Tuoba Hong's most valiant general, □□, was brandishing his sword bare-chested, personally supervising the battle.

He said, "Everyone, charge! We must take this city today! The first one to reach the top of the city will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins and a hundred slaves!"

The commander of Zhenzhou, the famous general of Western Qiang, Wuzhu, stood on the top of the city wall, looking at the seemingly endless Beishuo army outside the city. His face was ashen and his heart was filled with turmoil.

He had already received urgent reports from scouts, knowing that the main force had been lured out by Ning Lingyi and was fighting a bloody battle with the Southern Dynasty army. Now Beishu was attacking Zhenzhou fiercely, and they were attacked from both sides. The situation was extremely critical!

"General! The East Gate can no longer be defended!"

"Report! The South City Arrow Tower was knocked down by a huge rock!"

Bad news comes one after another.

Wuzhu slammed his fist on the battlement. Trapped in an isolated city with no reinforcements outside and no food inside, if they continued to defend, their entire army would be wiped out.

He looked up to the west, the direction of his homeland.

All the struggle, anger and unwillingness in his eyes finally turned into determination. It was time to retreat.

"Pass the order! Stop reinforcing the city defenses! All cavalry, assemble! Open the west and north gates!"

The deputy general was stunned: "General? We..."

"We can't hold on!"

"But if we leave, we can't let them off so easily! Take with you all the gold, silver, food, and weapons you can take away! Also," a cruel glint flashed in his eyes.

"Take all the young and strong people in the city! Men and women, take them all away and make them our slaves!"

With one order, Zhenzhou City fell into even greater chaos.

The Western Qiang soldiers no longer defended the city, but rushed into people's homes frantically and drove out the people. The cries, pleas, and scolding mixed with the shouts of killing outside the city, forming a doomsday picture.

Soon, the west gate and the north gate were opened.

Wuzhu personally led the elite cavalry to clear the way, followed by a convoy loaded with huge amounts of treasure, and an endless stream of civilians driven by swords and guns. They dragged their families with them, wailing and wailing loudly, and rushed out of Zhenzhou City in panic, fleeing westward.

By the time □□ reacted and mobilized a large number of troops to forcibly attack Zhenzhou City, what they saw was almost an empty city.

Except for the elderly, weak, sick and disabled who died on the streets, and a few people who hid, all the property and young and strong people in the city were almost swept away.

Wuzhu's main force, protecting the looting team that stretched for dozens of miles, disappeared on the western horizon.

□□ was furious, but there was nothing he could do. He could only put down the sporadic resistance in the city and quickly report the news to Tuoba Hong.

Beishuo got Zhenzhou, but got an empty city.

*

On the vast desert south of the desert, a large group of Western Qiang people are migrating and moving forward with difficulty.

The team stretched for dozens of miles, with a convoy of property escorted by cavalry in the middle, and more than 200,000 people from Zhenzhou and other places being driven away, staggering and crying.

Wuzhu rode on his horse, looking back at the gradually receding direction of Zhenzhou, his eyes full of unwillingness. This defeat had resulted in heavy losses and was a great shame and humiliation.

He suddenly reined in his horse, beckoned over his most valiant and skilled commander, and said in a deep voice, "Baru, I will give you five thousand of our most elite cavalry. Leave the main force, and you don't have to return to the royal court."

The brave general named Baru was startled: "General?"

Wuzhu pointed his whip southeastward. "Take your men and charge straight down from here! Bypass all the city gates and rush to the capital of the Southern Dynasty at all costs and at the fastest speed!"

He said fiercely, "The Emperor of the Southern Dynasty promised to give us Heshuo, but he broke his promise and teamed up with Beishuo to plot against us. I'm giving him a great gift! On behalf of the Qiang King, please give the Emperor of the Southern Dynasty a proper greeting!"

Baru pounded his chest and accepted the order: "As you command! I will live up to the general's trust!"

Soon, five thousand of the most elite cavalry of the Western Qiang broke away from the main force and headed straight for the Southern Dynasty, about to set off a huge wave!