Chapter 121 Battle (Part 1) Yue Yao is He Mengxi's nemesis...
Shengzhou, outside the city.
The two armies are locked in a standoff.
Lu Wei and his civil and military officials stood on the city wall, looking down at the rebel leaders surrounded by the rebel army on the other side.
Below the city walls, a general clad in armor rode out on horseback, a spiked club in hand, his fighting spirit high. He shouted to the rebels, "Who among you dares to fight me?"
Having already done his intelligence work, Zhu Yunze used his excellent eyesight to identify the enemy's fighters and introduced them to the crowd, saying, "He Mengxi from Kaiping! This man is highly skilled in martial arts, especially in mounted combat."
“Since he was the first to go into battle, he must have some skill,” said Zhu Kexuan, the strategist from Qingzhou. “Lu Wei wants to give us a taste of our power.”
Zhang Zigao, the leader of Mao'er Mountain, sneered, "Just a mere He Mengxi."
Lu Hong stared ahead, and without turning his head, asked, "Who wants to fight?"
His subordinate, Long Fei, stepped forward and declared loudly, "Your subordinate requests to fight!"
Lu Hong turned to look at him, a smile on his face, "If Captain Long returns victorious, I will reward him with five hundred gold pieces!"
Long Fei clasped his hands in a fist salute, "I will certainly live up to the governor's expectations!"
Long Fei mounted his black steed, took the double maces offered by the soldiers, and charged out like a gust of wind.
A long "whoosh" quickly brought the horse to a stop in front of He Mengxi. Long Fei shouted to He Mengxi, "Long Fei of Zhuyang, accept the challenge!"
He Mengxi looked Long Fei up and down with a disdainful gaze, then laughed loudly, "Come on!"
The two charged at each other with their weapons, their spiked clubs and maces clashing, sparks flying and a loud sound emanating from them.
In the blink of an eye, the two had fought more than ten rounds. As it was difficult to determine a winner, their expressions became increasingly fierce, and the fight became more and more intense.
Yun Youning withdrew her gaze from the city wall and looked down at the horses opposite, then turned to look at the warhorses of her allies.
She gave a soft scoff.
Feng Jiawei turned to look at her, his eyes questioning her.
Yun Youning lowered her voice, "The saddle, the double stirrups, the horseshoes—these are all things that Zhu Yunze learned from my Anling County back then!"
Zhu Yunze learned about saddles, double stirrups, and horseshoes from Anling County and brought them back to Maozhou, where they were promoted in Sun Yannan's army.
Later, the imperial army attacked Liangzhou and encountered Sun Yannan's army on the battlefield. Lu Wei's generals were not fools. After discovering the equipment of Sun Yannan's warhorses, they quickly copied it.
Sun Yannan sought help from Lu Hong, who led his troops to Liangzhou, where Sun Yannan provided equipment. Lu Hong discovered that the three-piece set of warhorse equipment was extremely useful, and equipped all his warhorses with it.
Feng Jiawei suddenly realized, and said, "There's nothing we can do about it; we can't just hide our warhorses."
If others are willing, they can always learn from our strengths.
Moreover, Feng Jiawei smiled kindly, "The goddess didn't intend to hide it either."
According to He Qinglan, the promotion of the new tool should not be done solely by the people of Jinzhou. The people of Jinzhou can pass on the methods, and people in other places can learn and promote them, so as to reduce the workload of the people of Jinzhou in the future.
Yun Youning said, "The goddess is kind-hearted and saves all the people under heaven."
Feng Jiawei smiled gently.
In a sense, the goddess did this to save time, effort, and worry.
For example, with tea, if a place takes the initiative to learn how to fry and brew tea from Jinzhou, then plants tea trees on several mountains locally, starts a tea business, and teaches the locals to drink tea in every household.
If the goddess takes over this place in the future, wouldn't she be getting all the benefits for free?
Yun Youning and Feng Jiawei immediately turned to look and saw that Long Fei had been knocked off his horse by He Mengxi with a spiked club.
The horse raised its front legs, neighed, and galloped away into the distance.
Long Fei lay motionless on the ground.
He Mengxi was beaming with pride, while the soldiers behind him cheered loudly.
Lu Hong's expression changed.
The original plan was to have Long Fei fight and defeat He Mengxi to get off to a good start.
Now, Lu Wei has gotten off to a good start, killing Long Fei and giving them a taste of their own medicine.
He was furious inside, but he kept his composure on the surface and turned to ask the crowd, "Who dares to fight?"
One of Sun Yannan's generals looked at Sun Yannan, and seeing that his lord had nodded, he stepped forward with his Azure Dragon Halberd and said loudly, "I request to fight."
Lu Hong's gaze swept over the other man's strong arms and long-handled halberd, and he slowly nodded. "My promise still stands. If you can defeat He Mengxi, I will give you five hundred gold pieces!"
The military officer agreed, "I will certainly receive these five hundred gold pieces."
The general rode away on horseback, his hooves kicking up a trail of dust.
The Azure Dragon Halberd thrust out, but was blocked by He Mengxi, who was riding up on horseback, carrying a spiked club.
Their eyes met, and He Mengxi laughed arrogantly, "My spiked club doesn't kill nobodies, leave your name behind!"
The general's eyes widened, "I am Shao Bo of Yuyang!"
He Mengxi swung his spiked club, his gaze icy, "Shao Bo, today is your death day!"
"Shao Bo is no match for He Mengxi."
After watching the two fight for more than twenty rounds, Guo Lang came to a conclusion.
Fang Liniang stepped on Guo Lang's foot, leaving Guo Lang bewildered. "Why did you step on me?"
Lu Feng said in a low voice, "Keep your voice down. Do you think none of Sun Yannan's men can tell?"
Guo Lang: "..." He glanced at Sun Yannan, whose face was growing increasingly grim, and asked, "Strategist, may I request to join the battle?" Five hundred gold coins!
Lü Feng replied, "Let's wait a little longer."
After more than thirty rounds, as expected, Shao Bo was hit on the head by He Mengxi's spiked club and fell off his horse.
Two corpses lay on the ground.
He Mengxi looked down at Lu Hong and the others from his high vantage point.
On the city wall, Lu Wei curled the corners of his mouth, "He Mengxi is indeed amazing."
Several officials quickly echoed, "General He is a talent personally promoted by the Prime Minister!"
"How can a bunch of rebels compare to the generals of my imperial court?"
"Exactly! A bunch of rabble trying to overthrow the court? What a pipe dream!"
"The Prime Minister will surely quell the rebellion swiftly and annihilate all the rebels!"
On Lu Hong's side, Lu Hong's gaze fell on He Qinglan, whose face remained expressionless, and Ye Hui, who always wore a warm smile.
He asked, "Governor He, Lady Ye, would you two like to recommend someone to fight?"
He Qinglan said, "Mao'er Mountain, Yueyao."
Lu Hong: "?"
Sun Yannan also looked over curiously.
He Qinglan repeated definitively, "Yue Yao is He Mengxi's nemesis."
Instead of recommending a military officer from Jinzhou, she recommended someone from Mao'er Mountain who had no connection to her, which aroused the curiosity of everyone present who heard her words.
Some people looked at Ning Huai'an with suspicion, wondering how he would react if He Qinglan didn't mention him.
Ning Huai'an naturally did not react. Feng Jiawei's intelligence work was quite outstanding, and Yue Yao of Mao'er Mountain was strong enough to lift a cauldron. With his excellent martial arts skills, he stood out among the generals. Ning Huai'an also thought highly of him.
Zhang Zigao was taken aback, then laughed under the scrutinizing gazes of the crowd, "Thank you, Governor He. Then let Yue Yao of Mao'er Mountain go into battle!"
He turned his head, "Yue Yao."
A young man in his early twenties stepped forward. He was very tall and held a crescent-shaped halberd in his hand, looking quite brave.
Yue Yao said, "I will definitely behead He Mengxi."
Yue Yao rode away on horseback.
Having already killed two enemy generals, He Mengxi looked contemptuously at the young general charging towards him, not taking him seriously at all.
"Underestimating your opponent is a big no-no," Ning Huai'an said softly.
Li Xianyu from Ningzhou was standing next to him. Hearing his words, he couldn't help but ask, "Is this Yue Yao very strong?"
Ning Huai'an looked down at him and replied, "Very strong. He was sixteen years old. When bandits entered the village, he led the men in the village to kill more than a hundred bandits."
Li Xianyu was shocked.
Ning Huai'an continued, "When he was eighteen, the local county official raised the grain tax, but unfortunately, there was a drought that year, and the people had no harvest."
Many people around Ning Huai'an either secretly moved closer to him or pricked up their ears to listen when they heard him telling a story.
Ning Huai'an said, "In order to protect his fellow villagers, Yue Yao fought back and killed the soldiers sent by the high-ranking official to collect grain. Afterwards, the county magistrate posted a wanted notice for him, so he changed his name and fled his hometown, and by chance came to Mao'er Mountain."
He was recognized by Zhang Zigao for his kung fu skills and became the third leader of Mao'er Mountain.
After listening to Ning Huai'an's introduction, everyone's expectations for Yue Yao rose.
They looked toward the battlefield ahead.
As the crescent blade clashed with the spiked club, Yue Yao unleashed a series of attacks—slashing, chopping, thrusting, intercepting, blocking, parrying, and hacking—that He Mengxi was unable to withstand, retreating as he blocked.
Yue Yao fought with increasing ferocity, while He Mengxi fought and retreated.
A smile appeared on Zhang Zigao's face, and he proudly raised his chin: "Although you have a state or a county, today, in the first battle, it is my Mao'er Mountain that has won first place!"
Lu Hong and Sun Yannan didn't think too much about it. Now that He Mengxi had the upper hand, they needed to kill him to boost morale, and it didn't matter if he wasn't one of their own.
He Qinglan stared blankly ahead, without uttering a word.
Seeing that Yue Yao was on the verge of victory, Ye Hui asked in a low voice, "Why...?"
He Qinglan replied, "In terms of individual combat ability, Yue Yao is one of the most outstanding people."
Ye Hui was puzzled, "But..."
Yue Yao is indeed formidable, but Lu Hong's Xu Xinqi and Qian Chao, Sun Yannan's Zhao Qiguang and Yang Wenchi, and your Jinzhou's Ning Huai'an and Hu Dazhu... Ye Hui paused, looking at He Qinglan in surprise. Why didn't Hu Dazhu come?
At this moment, Yue Yao swung his long-handled broadsword and slashed down diagonally, striking He Mengxi's neck. Blood spurted out instantly, and He Mengxi's wide eyes were filled with resentment. He fell off his horse and collapsed to the ground.
Both sides were greatly surprised.
Yue Yao raised his crescent blade high, showing it to everyone; he had won!
A short while later, Yue Yao dismounted and dragged the bodies of Long Fei and Shao Bo over, placing them on his horse's back.
He mounted his horse and galloped towards his own camp.
"Good, good, good!" Lu Hong laughed and cheered, "Yue Yao is indeed exceptionally brave!"
Ye Hui smiled. "The five hundred gold coins promised by Governor Lu?"
Lu Hong said, "Of course, this governor keeps his word!"
He looked at Zhang Zigao, who was not modest at all. The two of them led the crowd to greet the hero and welcome him back!
Yun Youning looked thoughtful. She turned her head and lowered her voice to ask Xi Baolu from the publicity department behind her, "Does the Goddess think highly of this Yue Yao?"
Xi Baolu smiled but remained silent.
Yun Youning narrowed her eyes, "Haven't you tried poaching someone from your partner?"
After obtaining Yue Yao's information, she didn't believe that Hu Dazhu and Ning Huai'an wouldn't be tempted.
Xi Baolu shrugged regretfully, "We dug, but we didn't find anything."
Yun Youning understood, “It’s a debt of gratitude for being recognized and appreciated.” These kinds of young people are at the age when they value loyalty the most, and they are very difficult to recruit.
Everyone praised Yue Yao highly.
Lu Hong and Sun Yannan thanked him for bringing back their bodies, while Yue Yao scratched the back of his head and said no thanks were necessary.
Lu Hong ordered someone to bring out five hundred taels of gold. Yue Yao looked at Zhang Zigao, who smiled and nodded. Yue Yao then accepted the gold.
While everyone on this side was beaming with joy, Lu Wei on the other side was furious.
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