Chapter 70
The smell of blood, earth, and burnt resin torches filled the rain.
Sui Yuanqing led Changning to charge into the Yanzhou army formation. Taking advantage of the horse's momentum, he wielded the spear to knock down soldiers along the way. Changning's face was splashed with blood, and he cried until his voice became hoarse.
Sui Yuanqing's face was also covered in blood, but he was laughing wildly and wantonly, and he even had the leisure to tease Chang Ning: "Kid, if your father doesn't have the courage to come out and save you, you can stay in my Changxin Palace in the future. My nephew likes you very much, and it would be nice for you to be his little maid..."
He swung the spear in his hand and knocked another general of the Yanzhou army off his horse. When the spear was about to take the general's life, a long spear suddenly stretched out from the side and blocked the spear in his hand, and then slashed across. Sui Yuanqing hurriedly blocked it with his spear, but was still shocked by the force and took two steps back with his horse before he could steady himself.
He raised his eyes and looked at the owner of the halberd, with a provocative smile on his face: "I thought the noble body of the Marquis would not show up."
The drizzle had turned into a heavy downpour. Xie Zheng stood in the rain, lightning tearing the dark night sky behind him into countless pieces. His wet cloak dripped water along his horse's back. He carried his halberd at his back, blood dripping from the blade. He looked at Sui Yuanqing coldly with his phoenix eyes, and did not respond.
When Sui Yuanqing saw the blood on his halberd, he quickly turned his head to look at his arm, and sure enough, there was a cut. The rain on his clothes soaked into the wound, and only then did he feel waves of pain.
He frowned, what quick skills.
Xie Zheng sneered, "It's really brave of the prince to take a child to the battlefield."
Sui Yuanqing felt a little unhappy because he was ridiculed, but he did not want to fight anymore. He just rode back with Changning.
Chang Ning was frightened by the killing he had seen that night. He was still in a daze at this time. It was night, so he did not recognize that the person who came was Xie Zheng. After hearing Xie Zheng's voice, he was led back by Yuan Qing. The next moment, he burst into tears: "Brother-in-law——"
She was placed in front of the saddle by Sui Yuanqing, but she couldn't help but lean her little body to look back, her eyes were a little swollen from crying.
Sui Yuanqing pushed the child who was about to fall off the horse back, but his expression suddenly became a little strange: "What did you call that person just now?"
Chang Ning was emboldened when she saw Xie Zheng. She glared at the bad guy with her tear-swollen eyes and threatened him, "My brother-in-law will not let you go!"
Sui Yuanqing looked as if he had seen a ghost: "So you are not his daughter at all?"
When Xie Zheng heard Changning crying, he urged his horse to chase after her. The deputy general who had climbed up from the ground hurriedly said, "My Lord, I'm afraid there is something fishy going on."
Xie Zheng narrowed his eyes and looked at Sui Yuanqing who was running away. He only pointed out a few personal guards to follow him and said to the deputy general, "You guys stay here and don't follow."
Yan Qi kicked the horse's belly and chased after it.
The deputy general wanted to say something else, but he could only see Xie Zheng's black cloak being lifted in a sharp arc in the cold wind.
The arrowhead whizzed past his scalp in the night. Sui Yuanqing had to duck his body to avoid the white-feathered arrow that followed him like a shadow. The memory of being chased in Qingping County last time came to his mind, and he suddenly felt embarrassed.
Chang Ning was squeezed against the horse's back by him. Knowing that someone was coming to save him, he now fully exerted his strength to oppose Yuan Qing, either pulling his hair or biting his hand that was holding the reins.
There was a stinging pain on the back of her hand, and Yuan Qing hissed softly. He pinched Chang Ning's cheeks with his index finger and thumb to make her loosen her teeth, and threatened coldly: "If you don't know what's good for you, I will throw you off the horse and let you be trampled to death by the horse's hooves!"
Changning's cheeks were pinched so hard that they hurt, and tears couldn't help but well up in her eyes.
Sui Yuanqing withdrew his hand only after he saw that she had behaved herself. He and the Chongzhou cavalrymen ran in a zigzag pattern to avoid the arrows behind them, while he was weighing in his mind whether it was worth him taking such a big risk to save the little girl in his hand since she was not Xie Zheng's daughter.
Their original plan was to use the child as bait to lure Xie Zheng into an ambush. Even if they couldn't kill Xie Zheng, they would at least skin him alive.
But the bait was not as heavy as he expected, and Xie Zheng was hooked anyway. Sui Yuanqing suddenly had a bad feeling.
Which link was missed?
Based on his understanding of Xie Zheng, Xie Zheng should not be such an impulsive person.
His father's rebellion was not a one-day plan. The seeds of dissatisfaction with the royal family were sown when the eldest princess died in the East Palace.
His father thought that the fire that killed the eldest princess and her son was a warning from the emperor, so in order to protect himself, he had been keeping a low profile for the past decade.
In order to deal with Wei Yan, he naturally had to break the sharp blade in Wei Yan's hand first. Ever since Xie Zheng became famous, his father had been training him to be the person to defeat Xie Zheng.
The art of war emphasizes knowing both oneself and the enemy, and Xie Zheng learned everything he had learned. For every victory Xie Zheng won, his father's advisers would review it with him many times, looking for the flaws and formulating tactics to win the victory.
Precisely because he had been copying everything Xie Zheng had done over the years, he sometimes felt like he had become a shadow of Xie Zheng.
In this world, apart from Xie Zheng himself, he should be the only one who understands him best.
If he was the child of that woman, given Xie Zheng's pride, he might have taken the risk.
But she was just that woman's sister. For people like them, it was not worth risking the lives of thousands of soldiers for this one chance.
Could it be... that he really overestimated Xie Zheng?
While he was distracted, the warhorse was hit by an arrow in its front leg. After a neigh, it was about to fall forward due to inertia. When Yuan Qing came to his senses, he grabbed Chang Ning with one hand with a grim look on his face, and used his long spear with the other hand to leverage his strength to flip over to the warhorse of a cavalryman next to him, thus avoiding being thrown out with both the man and the horse.
Xie Zheng had already caught up on horseback. He stood sideways in the middle of the road, blocking the way of Sui Yuanqing and his bodyguards. He gently pulled the reins with one hand and held the long spear with the other. He looked at Sui Yuanqing with a playful look and said casually, "It seems that Prince Sui didn't learn enough from the last lesson, so he doesn't learn his lesson."
There was a loud thunderclap, and the white light of lightning cut out the sharp outline of Xie Zheng's face, while the cold night dragged behind him.
He was riding alone to block a dozen cavalrymen from Chongzhou, but the sense of oppression made the cavalrymen on horseback feel it was difficult to breathe.
Sui Yuanqing was almost unable to suppress the anger in his eyes because of this, but he soon calmed down and said with a sly smile: "It is said that the Houye is an extraordinary horseman and archer. It is also an honor for Sui to have learned from him twice, isn't it?"
Several personal cavalrymen who came with Xie Zheng just rushed over at this time, blocking the way for Yuan Qing and his party to retreat.
Sui Yuanqing was not panicked. He tilted his head, looked at Xie Zheng and asked with a smile: "I think that the Marquis is not the kind of person who treats the lives of soldiers as a joke. In order to save this child, the Marquis is willing to sacrifice himself."
As he spoke, he touched Changning's hair that was wet from the rain, as if he was touching a small animal.
This was an obvious plot to sow discord, hoping to make the soldiers who followed Xie Zheng feel dissatisfied with him.
Xie Zheng simply asked him, "Is this spring rain heavy?"
The rain became heavier, and raindrops as big as beans hit the ground, making small pits in the mud in the firelight.
Sui Yuanqing didn't understand why he suddenly mentioned the rain at first. When he reacted, his face suddenly turned ugly. When he thought that the 50,000 troops besieging Lucheng would probably die in this spring flood, the veins on his forehead bulged. With a hint of anger in his eyes, he raised the tip of his gun and pointed it at Xie Zheng: "Did you know this was a trick? Was the 20,000 troops borrowed from Lizhou also fake?"
Xie Zheng did not comment.
Sui Yuanqing looked at him with gritted teeth, and then burst into laughter: "Well, we lost the battle of Lucheng, and it's a loss. It's much more satisfying to capture you than to capture Lucheng and go straight to Luzhou!"
He picked up Chang Ning who was standing in front of the saddle and sneered, "My Lord, you are a man of extraordinary calculations. I have no choice but to admit that you are better than me. If that is the case, there is no need to spare the child's life."
After saying this, he threw Chang Ning into the sky and stabbed straight at him with the spear in his hand.
Chang Ning screamed in fright. Xie Zheng's eyes darkened. He used his long spear to block Sui Yuanqing's weapon, took advantage of the horse's back, and jumped up to meet Chang Ning. Sui Yuanqing seized the opportunity and stabbed Xie Zheng's armor under his armpit with his long spear.
Without the protection of armor, the tip of the gun pierced into the flesh, probably hitting the bone, and Yuan Qing felt a dull sensation in his hand.
Everything happened in a flash. Xie Zheng was still holding Changning in one hand. When he saw a personal knight coming over, he threw Changning directly to the personal knight. With one hand, he pressed down the spear handle and used the black gold spear head to lift up his breastplate. After landing on his horse's back, he swung his halberd and swept towards Sui Yuanqing.
Sui Yuanqing was so frightened that he used one hand to support himself on the horse's back and leaped into the air to avoid the halberd. However, he did not expect Xie Zheng to use the halberd to support himself on the ground, use the force to jump up and kick him in the chest.
When the foot landed on his body, Sui Yuanqing felt his ribs were broken, his entire chest was instantly squeezed and torn with pain, and a bloody taste filled his throat.
He instinctively tried to get up, but the blade of the halberd was already at his throat.
The rain was pouring down heavily, and the severe pain made him dizzy, so he couldn't see Xie Zheng's expression at that moment.
But Sui Yuanqing realized very clearly that he had lost, and lost completely.
After he was captured, the Chongzhou cavalry dared not act rashly again. Soon, the Yanzhou cavalry came and kidnapped Sui Yuanqing.
Xie Zheng looked down at him and said, "Take it back."
Several personal guards who followed Yuan Qing watched him being taken away, but did not dare to move forward. One of them took advantage of Xie Zheng and others not paying attention, jumped on his horse and ran back to report the news.
Xie Zheng ordered several of his personal cavalrymen: "Go to Yixian Gorge immediately."
He was originally worried that he could not lure Prince Changxin's army into the canyon, but capturing Sui Yuanqing alive would be more effective than baiting them himself.
The group rode back on horseback. Xie Zheng sat on the horse with his back straight, but his lips were slightly pale. Blood kept seeping out from the sleeve of his halberd-holding hand, flowing across the back of his hand and dripping down the blade of the halberd.
The brown inner robe successfully concealed the color of blood, and the heavy rain concealed the smell of blood, so the bodyguards had not yet discovered his abnormality.
Changning was sitting on the horse of a personal soldier. She was terrified. After she recovered, she couldn't help sobbing, and she called "sister" and "brother-in-law" incoherently.
Xie Zheng took a quick glance and thought about the battlefield full of corpses that they would have to pass on the way back, so he said to his bodyguard, "Blindfold her."
The author has something to say:
I often stay up too late and have some health problems. The stupid author will try his best to adjust himself and try not to affect the update. If he is really unable to keep updating, he will ask for leave in the copywriting to explain it.
Thank you for your continued support, and I hope everyone will stay up less late and have a healthy body QAQ
Those who have followed me for a few books probably know that I have always had insomnia. If you are a night owl and stay up too late, and feel chest tightness, panic, shortness of breath, and persistent stabbing pain in the chest and ribs, sit up quickly and let your legs hang naturally to rest, don’t lie down directly!!! (The stupid author learned this lesson after going to the hospital. The doctor said that there is a risk of heart failure. At this time, you must sit up and let your legs hang naturally to reduce the pressure on your heart. After a while, you will feel that the pain in your chest and ribs has eased a little. If you feel unwell, go to the hospital, don’t delay!)
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