Chapter 64 The Horse God of Xiling

"Whoa—"

Under the sky, the crowd let out a mixture of amazement and tension.

Ganzhou was the direction Zhong Cong was defending. Over the years, Ganzhou's importance has not been as great as Yongzhou's, and it has received far less attention than Mingyuan Pass.

Now that it has suddenly become the center of the battlefield, and the supreme commander is still a teenager, it's no wonder they are worried.

Although the common people didn't understand what was important and what wasn't, they knew from Tianmu's tone that this was going to be a tough battle.

The pressure Zhong Cong faced now was completely different from before. The Western Khan monopolized the resources of both the Eastern and Western Khans, and he had also brought the Eastern Khan's army under his control, making him far more powerful than ever before. Zhongzong's army was still on its way north, with only a portion of elite cavalry traveling overnight to provide support.

Before the main army arrived at the battlefield, she had to hold off all the attacks from the Northern Di alone. Of course, everyone knows that she did hold them off, keeping the Western Khan tied down outside Ganzhou Pass. If you say leave, there's the worry that the main army at Dingyuan Pass will break through; if you say stay, the Ning Dynasty's army is about to arrive. She was truly caught in a dilemma.

Emperor Hong'an stroked his beard.

Although he only had a smattering of military knowledge, he knew that such abilities could not be acquired solely through learning.

This is talent. Like his eldest son, he has the ability to apply knowledge to other areas, naturally surpassing the efforts of ordinary people that take more than ten years.

The Ning Dynasty was not without geniuses, nor was the royal family without suitable heirs.

Then he couldn't help but ponder: of his grandson's two descendants, although Zhong Huang was somewhat weak-willed, Zhong Cong was clearly more than capable of making up for that. He felt he had completely let go of the past; as long as the emperor's surname remained Zhong and the dynasty name was still Ning, what was there tolerable?

Clearly, Hong An did not realize that people's bottom line gradually declines in this way. He even felt that his previous hesitation was insignificant and made a new decision again.

He bestowed a marriage upon Zhou She.

The marriage partner is still Gu Xunhui. Emperor Hong'an thought expressionlessly: Regardless of whether you are the closest or most distant spouse, or a loving couple who grow old together, these two like-minded guys are clearly a match made in heaven.

That's the decision. It would be best to have his great-granddaughter born as soon as possible.

Tianmu continued:

At the end of June in the third year of Jinghua, the army arrived at the border and camped at Mingyuan Pass. As soon as Emperor Zhongzong settled down, he saw Zhong Cong make a suggestion to him, saying that she had painstakingly cultivated that Northern Di spy in the past, and felt that "Father Emperor is wise and powerful, a wise ruler who has not been seen in a hundred years, and is wholeheartedly willing to abandon darkness and embrace the light."

There's another way to say "abandoning darkness for light"—it's called "job hopping." But job hopping requires a pledge of loyalty. The last person to do that was Yu Suisheng, who sacrificed his former master's life, which more or less contributed to the change in the entire situation.

This inside man, a general under the Western Khan, patted his chest confidently: "If he can do it, so can I." He hoped Zhong Cong would definitely recommend him.

The only response from the crowd was: "That makes sense."

As a smart person, one should be able to guess the decline of the Northern Di at this point.

Ren Heng scoffed at it.

He had many grievances against these barbarian tribes, but for the sake of the war situation, he reluctantly tolerated them.

The Minister of Rites, Lord Ming, was quite old, and his eyes were drooping wearily, only half-open. Hearing half of the story, he raised his head in confusion.

"What? He wants to assassinate the Western Khan?"

Ren Heng glanced sideways and raised an eyebrow, replying dismissively, "Lord Ming, if you're so sleepy, go home and get some sleep."

Shen Mingzhe, however, was full of complaints, not about the Northern Di's inside man, but about Yu Suisheng, who had been nominated again.

His first impression of Yu Suisheng, whom he didn't know, was not good—of course, he also disliked most people; civil officials were somewhat timid and lacked backbone, military generals were crude and lacked foresight, and there were too many mediocre people in the world...

Although Tianmu explained that he had various reasons for betraying his former master, Shen Mingzhe was intolerant of any dissent. He felt uneasy just hearing the name, always thinking that it represented a dark chapter in the future history of his less-than-successful disciple.

Those who can participate in the struggle between two countries are generally not fools—with a few exceptions. This inside man was a smart man, who seized the opportunity very accurately and chose to leave the National Revolutionary Army in 1948.

Although the inside man has decided to defect, he also wants to leave himself a way out. He can't directly assassinate the Western Khan, so what should he do? He should take his team with him and defect.

His proposal eventually reached King Jungjong's court, and King Jungjong approved of it.

In July of the same year, while the Western Khan was ordering the attack on Dingyuan Pass, the inside agent, through superb acting skills, secretly escaped with half of his troops. The Western Khan awoke to find, to his astonishment, that half of his soldiers were gone again.

The people under the canopy were amused and burst into laughter.

The civil and military officials exchanged glances and also revealed reserved smiles.

The unfortunate Khan was unaware that this was only the beginning of his misfortune.

But what did Tianmu mean by saying that he left the National Revolutionary Army in 1948?

After some calculations, everyone realized that it was still the 48th year since the founding of the nation, and Emperor Gaozu was still on the throne. As for what happened... it didn't seem to be anything important.

Their gaze fell upon the historian who was diligently and frantically writing.

The historian: "..." What are you looking at me for? Do you think I only remember this?

Before the Western Khan could figure out what was going on, troops from Ganzhou, Yongzhou, and Suizhou had already been dispatched simultaneously. Zhongzong was advancing from Yongzhou, with Zhong Cong and Zhuang Shi intercepting him from the left and right respectively. The Western Khan, seeing the situation was dire, was about to flee when he heard that Zhongzong was leading troops from the east.

The Western Khan was so frightened that he stopped running and retreated into the city. As a result, he was surrounded and finally tried to lead his troops westward under the cover of darkness. However, Emperor Zhongzong pursued him all the way to Xiling, where tens of thousands of his troops were captured and hundreds of thousands of livestock were seized.

Only the Western Khan himself managed to escape. Using his superb horsemanship, he twisted and hid under his horse's belly to escape, earning him the title of "Horse God of the Western Ridge."

Upon hearing the results from the Western Khan, Zhou She couldn't help but glance at the distant camp of Litu.

If he remembered correctly, the person Tianmu was referring to should be Litu's father. This Tianmu is really something... The title "Horse God of Xiling" reminded him of a famous emperor from the Song Dynasty in his previous life.

They are similar in principle.

As Zhou She thought of this, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, thinking to himself: This is a negative example.

He turned his head and found Cheng Zhuoran looking in his direction, only to find that Cheng Zhuoran was also looking at him.

The two exchanged a glance, and Cheng Zhuoran spoke first: "I'll allocate three thousand men to you so you can get to know them. Once things are going smoothly, I'll add more men for you."

This was Cheng Zhuoran's thoughtful gesture, and Zhou She was naturally grateful. Besides, three thousand men was quite a lot, almost equivalent to a middle school in later times. He quickly expressed his determination to work hard and become a qualified general as soon as possible.

The Western Khan continued his westward flight. At this time, Zhong Cong was discussing the next steps with her trusted confidants.

The two military commanders, Duan Youlin and Jiang Xinyao, held different opinions. One thought they should take the initiative to attack eastward and meet up with Zhuang Shi, who was heading west. The other thought that based on the route of the Western Khan, this person must have passed through Hansu Pass.

After careful analysis, Zhong Cong chose to garrison her troops at Hansu Pass, west of Xiling. Although not a veteran general, she had gradually established her authority through several battles, and so her men dutifully remained stationed in this desolate place.

As the sound from the sky accompanied the screen, a change finally occurred, and a map appeared, which was basically the same as the one shown not long ago, with the terrain exceptionally clear.

On the undulating mountain range, a red arrow marks the direction of the Northern Di army, followed by three bright yellow arrows, two of which point in one direction and the other continues northward.

Ren Heng stared at the red arrow, took a closer look, and then did some calculations.

Just as he had predicted, the Western Khan had nowhere to go and wanted to escape the battlefield, but could not cross the mountains and valleys, so he must have passed through Hansu Pass.

Jiang Xinyao sounds like a girl's name, so how come she spoke so accurately about the war?

Ren Heng had no objection to women becoming civil officials, but he was very biased against them joining the ranks of military officers, and at this moment he finally fell into deep confusion.

[At the end of July, the Western Ridge Horse God indeed passed through Hansu Pass and collided head-on with Zhong Cong. After a fierce battle, Zhong Cong captured the Western Khan alive, and the Northern Barbarians lost half of their territory.]

"good!!"

The people of the three prefectures in northern Xinjiang cheered in unison.

While they were in villages in the northern border region, they were harassed day and night by foreign enemies who would raid southward from time to time, and they had no choice but to leave their homes and come to the safer central areas.

But the hatred for the Northern Barbarians has not disappeared to this day, and seeing the miserable state of the Western Khan was like a long-awaited rain after a drought.

Meanwhile, after Zhongzong scared away the Western Khan, he did not pursue him. He believed that Zhong Cong could handle the matter, so he continued north and headed straight for the Northern Di royal court.

The Northern Khan was old and, seeing that the situation was hopeless and the people were restless, proposed to Emperor Zhongzong that a marriage alliance could ease the tensions between the two sides.

The Minister of Rites slightly opened his cloudy eyes. He stared at the sky in disbelief, as if he had finally regained full consciousness.

A marriage alliance?

Why not just storm in? Why bother with all this pretense?

Moreover, Emperor Zhongzong only had one daughter, so saying this would likely earn him immediate execution.

The Minister of Revenue smirked and exchanged glances with his colleagues. Although they didn't speak, their disdain was evident in their eyes.

The old Khan wasn't so mad as to ask for a princess in marriage; his plan was to marry his own daughter to the Khan, or have the Ning Dynasty send any nominal member of the royal family—wasn't that what they always did?

Xiao Yichun: "?"

The Ning Dynasty had only been established for a little over a hundred years. Although they had both won and lost in the wars with the Northern Di, they never made peace through marriage.

What do you mean, "This has always been done"? This is blatant slander!

Only Zhou She knew that what later generations meant by "it has always been this way" probably did not refer to their dynasty.

However, the Khan's plan backfired. King Jungjong responded with concrete actions.

At daybreak, the old Khan looked across the city and found it was dark—or rather, not even light. A massive army of 100,000 men was arrayed in the darkness, all hoping to bring his head home to report back.

Now he couldn't help but panic. But since he hadn't yet received any information about the Western Khan, he still had some confidence. After a series of actions, he managed to send a messenger, ordering both the Western and Central Khans to come and meet him. The Central Khan replied: "Busy, no thanks." The Western Khan replied: "...Unable to respond."

The crowd analyzed the situation seriously: How could Emperor Zhongzong possibly allow the envoy to escape the encirclement?

He must have been playing hard to get, deliberately letting this person go in order to demoralize the Northern Di army.

As for the Khan, he's just a filling machine for a Khan position that no one can find.

The border harassment is usually carried out by the Eastern and Western Khans. The Central Khan is unknown; he's never been mentioned in battle reports.

The Western Khan was captured, the Eastern Khan was killed, and what could the Central Khan do?