Chapter 437: It’s great to see her again
On the day when Cui Jing sent troops, in Jizhou City, the eldest son of the Kang family, who was guarding Kang Dingshan’s body, suddenly collapsed beside Kang Dingshan’s coffin. Soon after, blood gushed out of all his orifices and he died suddenly.
After investigation, it was found that someone had poisoned the tea, and the source of the poisoning was quickly identified as Kang Silang.
After Kang Dingshan's death, the eldest son of the Kang family and Kang Silang had the loudest voices in the distribution of military power and family property. The eldest son of the Kang family was born to Kang Dingshan's first wife. Although he was mediocre, he was the eldest son, so it was most reasonable for him to inherit.
Although Kang Silang's mother, Aunt Hong, was not the principal wife, the Hong family had gained more prestige in the army over the years. Hong Chen was Kang Dingshan's trusted general, and Kang Silang was also more favored by Kang Dingshan. Over the years, he was the most popular among all the children of the Kang family.
In such a situation, if two people fight, one of them will be injured.
However, faced with the accusation of poisoning his elder brother, Kang Shilang flatly denied it.
But there were witnesses and evidence, and even his trusted servant cried and confessed that he was the one who did it. Kang Dingshan's young and childless wife looked heartbroken and decided to temporarily imprison Kang Si.
The Hong family lost Hong Chen, the backbone of the family, and Kang Dingshan was killed. The whole family was in turmoil. By the time they reacted and wanted to put pressure on Kang Si to rescue him, the news that Kang Si had "committed suicide" had almost arrived...
All this happened in just one day.
No matter how much dissatisfaction the Hong family has, it is destined to be suppressed.
At this point, the two most popular heirs to the Kang family had both met with accidents. Amid the chaos, at the suggestion of Kang Dingshan's wife, Kang Liulang became the candidate to take over the military power.
In addition to the military talisman, Kang Liulang also naturally accepted several capable advisers from Kangdingshan.
One of the counselors told him that the most urgent thing was to be on guard against Shi Man.
——One of the third forces in the Pinglu Army is under the command of Shi Man, and Shi Man’s mother is now in Cui Jing’s hands. Under such a situation, Shi Man is likely to waver and turn against Cui Jing.
Kang Liulang agreed with this.
The current situation is unpredictable, and he must remove Ishiman's military power as soon as possible.
But Ishiman has deep roots in the army, and his subordinates recognize Ishiman as a person... To be on the safe side, directly getting rid of Ishiman and making this person disappear completely is the most feasible option.
However, he had just taken over the military power, and it was too difficult for him to accomplish anything on his own.
So Kang Liulang found several leaders of the Mohe army and wanted to unite with them to set up a plan to get rid of Shi Man.
Kang Liulang explained to the Mohe leader the fact that Shi Man's mother had been held hostage, and vowed that Shi Man had secretly surrendered to Cui Jing, and if he was not eliminated, he would become a serious threat.
Tieshi Fort was burned down, Kangdingshan was killed, and due to frequent misfortunes, they were unable to send troops to attack Youzhou. The Mohe people's patience had already been exhausted, and now hearing about this, they could not help but become impatient and angry.
However, they still did not believe Kang Liulang's one-sided statement, and asked someone to secretly investigate the situation of the Shi family. In the end, they confirmed that Mrs. Shi had been held hostage.
At this time, Kang Liulang promised them that he would send troops immediately after Shi Man died.
After weighing the pros and cons, the Mohe people finally nodded.
Compared to Kang Liulang's young face, they naturally trust Ishiman's abilities more. However, no matter how good his abilities are, once he develops disloyal intentions, he must not be kept.
Being younger is not necessarily a bad thing. Being younger means being easier to control... They have never really thought about sharing the spoils of war with the Kang family, just like Kang Dingshan was just using their Mohe cavalry.
It’s just that Kang Dingshan did not live to see the day of “dividing the spoils”, otherwise it would have been a matter of time before they fell out.
The Mohe people made up their minds, and the next day they urged Shi Man to come and discuss the matter of mobilizing troops.
This has been the norm in the past few days. The Mohe were eager to mobilize their troops, but Shi Man delayed on the grounds that he had to deal with the aftermath of Kangding Mountain first. The two sides had many disputes over this, but they maintained a balance and it never really came to a head.
After repeated urging from the Mohe people, Shi Man finally came.
Kang Liulang, who took over his father's military power, naturally participated in this matter.
Also present were seven or eight generals and officers from the Pinglu Army.
However, halfway through the discussion, after Kang Liulang secretly made a gesture to his trusted guards, a soldier suddenly rushed in with a knife.
Some generals did not understand what was going on and were about to ask questions, but Kang Liulang said righteously, "Shi Man has defected to the enemy. For the sake of the great plan, he must be eliminated! Please help me, uncles!"
"If you want to conspire with those who surrender to the enemy, I will have no choice but to offend you today!"
In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the plan and avoid leaks, he only discussed it secretly with a few confidants left by his father, and most of the people present were unaware of it.
But with the help of the Mohe, Kang Liulang is very confident in this secret assassination!
Those soldiers had already charged forward. While Shi Man's guards on both sides were holding their swords to block them, several generals asked Shi Man anxiously, "General Shi, is what Liu Langjun said true?!"
Shi Man stood up and pointed at the sword at his waist: "So what? We are loyal to Envoy Kang. I have never had any second thoughts when Envoy Kang was alive, so I think I have nothing to be ashamed of."
Someone was filled with shock and anger: "General Shi, you actually took it seriously..."
"Do you think that this son who killed his brother to seize power can really accomplish great things?" Shi Man drew his sword and said solemnly, "If you don't want to die with this ignorant child, it's not too late to stand by my side now!"
While the generals were wavering in their uncertainty, they suddenly heard the sound of fighting coming from outside the conference room.
Soon, a soldier covered in blood stumbled into the hall and said to Kang Liulang, "Langjun, Zhao Yu and Yan Rong suddenly mobilized their troops and have led their men to the outside of the courtyard!"
Kang Liulang was horrified. It was not surprising that Zhao Yu was Shi Man's subordinate, but Yan Rong was his father's confidant and knew about his murder attempt!
Therefore, Shi Man knew that today was a trap and had already prepared for it... He pretended to be ignorant in order to take advantage of the opportunity to counterattack!
"Shi Man... you have indeed surrendered to the enemy!" Kang Liulang said angrily, "You are a treacherous villain!"
"The one who made a promise with me was my brother. Now that my brother is gone, how can I betray him?" Shi Man looked at Kang Liulang and said indifferently, "I want to kill someone else. If you turn back now, I can save your life for the sake of our past friendship."
The "others" that Shi Man mentioned were obviously those gloomy-looking Mohe generals.
Kang Liulang sneered and drew his sword: "I may not be able to kill you today!"
Now that things have come to this, there is no turning back, so why not give it a try! The people he brought here today are all good fighters picked from a hundred. As long as Shi Man is killed in time, the situation outside will naturally be under control! But what he didn't expect was that all the generals present turned to Shi Man one after another, and no one was willing to stand on his side.
The Mohe people, seeing that the situation was not going well, did not know what kind of trap Shi Man had laid outside, and fearing that they would be trapped, chose to abandon him and take advantage of the chaos to retreat outside!
With the joint resistance and delay of those generals, the troops outside quickly rushed in.
Ishiman, who was only slightly injured, pointed his knife at Kang Liulang who was lying on the ground.
Kang Liulang finally begged for mercy in panic: "...Uncle Shi, I was bewildered for a moment. Please, for my father's sake, forgive me this time!"
"I have already given you a chance." Shi Man took another step closer and said, "I have risked my life to save your father twice on the battlefield. I don't think I owe your father and the Kang family anything."
Tears rolled down Kang Liulang's eyes. He knelt up and begged, "Uncle Shi, I really know I was wrong. You watched me grow up. I..."
"Because I watched you grow up." Shi Man pierced Kang Liu's heart with the long knife in his hand and said, "So I know that your begging for mercy now is fake, and your desire to kill me is real."
Kang Liu's body stiffened, and the dagger hidden in his right hand fell to the ground.
Shi Man pulled back the knife and Kang Liu fell heavily to the ground.
As Shi Man was leaving, he said to Kang Liu who was staring at him, "You are the most cunning among the nine of you brothers. Your scheming is more than enough to deal with your brothers. But it is far from enough to be used in this cannibalistic situation."
After he finished speaking, Shi Man suddenly thought of the young man who had planned all this, including him.
He has found out who Kang Cong met and where that person is now.
The young governor of Jiangdu, with the help of Kang Cong, was able to stir up numerous changes in the city of Jizhou.
They are all so young, some decide life and death while playing chess, some are just small chess pieces on the chessboard, and some are just dust powder beside the chessboard that is inadvertently kicked up by the hand holding the chess piece, even if they are destroyed, not a trace will be left behind.
If he had the chance, he would like to meet the person playing chess.
And now, he was forced to complete the chess moves prepared for him by the opponent.
He even had to walk as beautifully as possible in order to survive the desperate situation.
Facts have proved that it was a very wise choice for those Mohe tribal leaders to choose to fight their way out as soon as possible.
The outside area had almost been completely controlled by Shi Man's men. If they had not reacted quickly, they would have almost died here.
They quickly gathered their subordinates and fought their way out of Jizhou City.
They now have 5,000 soldiers and horses, and the remaining Mohe army is stationed 20 miles outside Jizhou City. They need to leave the city and join the main army before they can have a chance to fight Shi Man head-on.
Several Mohe leaders almost ran away while cursing.
God damn it, God damn it! First it was Dong Luo, and now it’s these Sheng people, all of them are the same kind of people who said they would rebel but suddenly stopped rebelling!
I have clearly spotted the right opportunity and want to grab some things and territory, but why is it so difficult!
I will definitely kill Shi Man, who has gone back on his word, to vent my hatred!
But they hardly have a chance to "turn back" -
The five thousand Mohe troops had great difficulty in breaking out of Jizhou City, but were blocked by the 20,000 Xuan Ce troops that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Cui Jing led his troops to intercept here, which was part of the plan secretly made with Shi Man.
With Xuan Ce's army in front and Shi Man's pursuing troops behind, the Mohe people had no way to retreat and could only fight to the death. Another person broke out of the encirclement, reported the news to the camp, and summoned reinforcements to come to the rescue as soon as possible.
The messengers were repeatedly stopped and killed along the way.
As it was getting dark, by the time the Mohe soldiers had managed to report the sudden change to the Mohe military camp, the three Mohe leaders outside Jizhou City had all been surrounded and killed. Two of them died at the hands of Cui Jing, and the other had his head cut off by Shi Man.
Afterwards, there was no need for the Mohe soldiers to come to the rescue, as Xuan Ce's army had already galloped towards where they had camped.
The more than 40,000 Mohe cavalry stationed here were preparing for war in panic.
But they soon discovered that tens of thousands of troops from the Andong Protectorate in the east were also approaching rapidly, trying to block their retreat! Before Cui Jing mobilized his troops this time, he had already arranged everything with Chang Suining, and had already sent a message to the Andong Protectorate to prepare for today's battle.
There were four tribal leaders participating in the war this time. They belonged to different tribes and had frequent conflicts over tribal interests. At this time, three of the tribal leaders had died, leaving only one to support the overall situation, which was not enough to command all the soldiers.
Under the attack from Xuan Ce's army, the Protectorate's troops, and the Pinglu army led by Shi Man, they were quickly defeated and forced to retreat to the north.
Faced with the pursuit and killing of the soldiers, the remaining Mohe troops were forced step by step to the banks of the Xilamulun River.
This river is the northern source of the West Liao River, and it stretches for more than 700 miles. However, it was the dry season in winter, and the river mud had not thawed. When the Mohe army forced their way across the river, Cui Jing, who was chasing them closely, immediately ordered their soldiers to shoot arrows.
The hungry and cold Mohe soldiers were thrown to the ground, and their morale was completely shattered in this river area. Some of them began to kneel down and surrender, offering their horses and swords.
Although there were still some people who fought desperately, the number of people who finally escaped back to Mohe alive, including the wounded, was barely over 10,000.
Cui Jing had no intention of pursuing the enemy further. The terrain of the Mohe tribe was vast and the people were scattered, and there were other ethnic minorities surrounding them. Going further would be extremely disadvantageous for his army.
At this point, the war has ended. As for whether to attack the Mohe next, it depends on how the imperial court will weigh the matter.
This battle lasted for more than ten days. On the 20th day of the first lunar month, Cui Jing led his army and took thousands of Mohe prisoners with him on their return journey.
Chang Sui'an, who was in charge of guarding the Mohe captives, was eager to go home. This was his first real battle, and he finally did not disgrace his father and sister's reputation! He knew that the Chang family had some talent in fighting!
Thinking of this, Chang Sui'an straightened his back even more and felt very majestic.
Looking at the man with a face full of frostbite, bruises at the corners of his eyes, and one arm wrapped in thick cloth, who wished he could fly back to Youzhou immediately to show off to the girl, the sword boy was speechless.
It can be seen that the young master is very satisfied with his performance in this battle, but he is not satisfied at all. The sword boy decides to report the young master to the girl when he returns to Youzhou.
A fast march would cause great harm to soldiers and horses, and the return journey after a victory would always be slower, so Cui Jing ordered the army to march slowly.
But as he sat on his horse and looked into the distance towards Youzhou, he unexpectedly developed an unknown feeling of longing to return home.
For Cui Jing, this was a feeling he had never experienced before.
The ten-day journey back seemed to take an eternity.
At the end of the first lunar month, there was a faint scent of early spring in the air. The army returned to the Youzhou camp, and the soldiers welcomed them with great joy.
Cui Jing dismounted, looked over the crowd, and almost immediately saw the girl standing there waiting.
It’s great to see her again.
And she took good care of herself. It seemed that her face had gained some flesh, and she was dressed warmly enough, which was even better.
In front of thousands of troops, the victorious general felt endless joy and peace of mind. Surrounded by people, the young man smiled at the source of his peace of mind.
But the next moment, as another familiar face appeared beside the girl, Cui Jing's smile froze slightly: "......?"
Good night! (Guess who made Xiao Cui's smile disappear hahaha
(End of this chapter)
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